235 



An Abstract of Dr. Beale's Lectures on the Structure and 

 Growth of the Tissues of the Human Body. Delivered 

 at the Royal College of Physicians, April — May, 1861. 



Lectures III, IV, and V. 



In his second lecture Dr. Beale endeavoured to show that 

 mildew, and all such simple living structures, were composed 

 of matter in two states, germinal matter a.nd forined material. 

 He tried to prove that ihe formed material, of which the ex- 

 ternal envelope was composed, was once in the state of ger- 

 minal matter, and that the inanimate matter, which formed 

 the pabulum or nutrient substance, passed through the outer 

 covering of formed material into the germinal matter, in the 

 particles of which it became living. Here all those wonder- 

 ful powers, which the germinal matter itself possessed, are 

 communicated to the inanimate particles. Facts were brought 

 forward to show that the germinal matter was composed of 

 spherical particles, and these of smalle\' and still smaller 

 spherules. These spherical particles always move in a direc- 

 tion from centre to circumference. The formed material 

 differs as much from the germinal matter in its structure as 

 in its properties. Tlie germinal matter alone grows and is 

 active, and can alone animate inanimate matter. The pro- 

 perties of the formed material depend upon the powers of the 

 germinal matter from which it was produced. These powers 

 were derived from the germinal matter, which gave it origin, 

 and so on from the beginning. The germinal matter possesses 

 the power of infinite growth, by which was meant that this 

 material will continue to increase as long as it is placed under 

 favorable conditions and supplied with the proper pabulum 

 or nutrient substances. The germinal matter is coloured by 

 alkaline colouring matters, especially by carmine, while the 

 formed material remains perfectly colourless, although it is 

 much nearer to the coloured solution than the germinal mat- 

 ter. We are not able to form any opinion as to the size of 

 the smallest particle capable of independent existence and 

 endless increase, but there can be no doubt that the smallest 

 living particles we can yet discern have been growing for some 

 time before they were large enough to be seen through our 

 most perfect microscopes. We have now to consider how far 

 these conclusions are applicable to the tissues of the higher 

 animals. 



Every tissue composed of elementary parts. — However large 

 and complex the organism may be, it is very easily separated 



