334 H. M. BEENAED. 



secondary phenomena. At fringes of these systems the 

 cytoplasmic masses may be in more or less stable or apparently 

 stable blocks, or columns, or plates, and form epithelia. In 

 solid tissues, with great quantities of granular cytoplasm, 

 this matter will be massed as so many balls, more or less 

 uniform in size, round the nuclear nodes of the protomitomic 

 system, each mass being as a rule distinguishable. The 

 distribution of the cytoplasm is wholly secondary to, and 

 always dependent on, the forms of the underlying protomi- 

 tomic systems. And though the cell doctrine will still be of 

 use in describing the method of distribution of the cytoplasm 

 and its special constitution in any tissue or organism, it can 

 be of no further service to us in profounder questions relating 

 to the physical basis of life, such as those dealing with growth 

 and. development, — that is, indeed, in relation to those very 

 subjects in which its failure has already been recognised. 



Before quitting this subject I should like to call attention to 

 fig. 2G, in which I have selected, out of an immense number 

 of drawings, a few of the cases which show the granular 

 cytoplasm with nearly the same outline as the nucleus with 

 which it is associated. I offer no explanation of this. It can 

 hardly be a case of mere coincidence, or be due to the accidents 

 of fixation ; and even then, in the latter case, it would require 

 explanation. The figures are taken from different retinas, 

 which shows that the phenomenon may occur under certain 

 unknown conditions at any time. It has, perhaps, helped to 

 lead me to the conviction that the granular cj'toplasm is 

 attracted to the nuclei, as above suggested. 



Some Observations on the Relations of the Chro- 

 matin to the Underlying Protomitomic System 

 in the Retina. 



Hitherto, the chromatin has had every claim to be 

 regarded as by far the most important of the constituents 

 of the cell. Its storage in a differentiated portion of the 

 cell, the nucleus; its ascertained physiological importance in 



