82 PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 



is more indebted, it seems to me, than it has yet seen fit to acknow- 

 ledge. Nor is tliis at all strange. Clad in an impenetrable garment 

 of good stiff English egotism ; firmly convinced of the absolute cor- 

 rectness of his own views, and the absolute incorrectness of the views 

 of everybody else ; ready at all times to fancy himself ' hit,' and more 

 than ready to strike back ; the author of two or three very useful, and 

 a far larger number of very useless, books; a writer of ordinary 

 ability, but of extraordinary productiveness so far as pages of octavo 

 are concerned ; these qualities, either singly or combined, are not cal- 

 culated to win the esteem or command the confidence of the great 

 brotherhood of scientists. And yet Professor Beale deserves the 

 highest commendation. He is an indefatigable worker ; as a micro- 

 scopist he has few equals, and probably no superiors, and he is largely 

 endowed with that quality of persistency which always means results. 

 His cell theory is attractive and plausible, and, so far as the function 

 of the nucleus is concerned, Las been accepted by a considerable 

 number of observers, and is likely to increase rather than diminish 

 its adherents. The cell, as a whole, he calls the ' elementary part ' ; 

 the nucleus, ' germinal matter ' (more recently, ' bioplast ') ; and all 

 outside the nucleus, ' formed material.' The ' formed material ' is 

 solely the product of the action of the ' germinal matter ' ; through 

 the agency of the ' formed material ' the various functions of the 

 body are carried on ; and yet, by a strange paradox, this very ' formed 

 material' is, according to Dr. Beale, dead, or, to employ a softer 

 phrase, ' non-living.' " 



Dr. Bastian's Experiments on the Beginnings of Life.— /Under this 

 heading Dr. Sanderson, F.R.S., contributes the following valuable 

 information to ' Nature,' January 9th, 1873 : — " In every experimental 

 science it is of great importance that the methods by which leading 

 facts can be best demonstrated should be as clearly defined and as 

 widely known as possible. This is particularly true as regards 

 physiology, a science of which the experimental basis is as yet im- 

 perfect. All experiments by which a certainty can be shown to exist 

 where there was before a doubt, serve as foundation stones. It is well 

 worth while taking some pains to lay them properly. Your readers 

 are aware that Dr. Bastian, in his work on the Beginnings of Life, has 

 asserted that in certain infusions the ' lower organisms ' come into 

 existence under conditions which have been generally admitted to 

 exclude the possibility of the pre-existence of living germs. It is also 

 well known that these experimental results are disputed. Not long 

 ago I witnessed the opening of a number of experimental flasks 

 charged many months ago by a friend of mine with infusions sup- 

 posed to be similar to those recommended by Dr. Bastian. The flasks 

 had been boiled and closed hermetically, according to Dr. Bastian's 

 method. Finding on careful microscopical examination that the con- 

 tents of the flasks contained no living organisms, I charged calcined 

 tubes with the liquids, sealed them hermetically, and forwarded them 

 to Dr. Bastian. When I next saw him he pointed out that two of the 

 three liquids used were not those which he had recommended, that if 

 the infusions had been properly prepared there would not have been 



