24 THE CELL DOCTRINE. 



there is in these views an approximation to the truth. 

 "As the result of an equal contest between contrac- 

 tion and expansion, there arises the globule, of which 

 all organisms, all organic parts, are originally com- 

 posed. By a stronger exercise (Spannung, tension) 

 of power, there originates from the often mere homo- 

 geneous globule, the vesicle. Where in an organism 

 globules and a formless mass are present, the globules 

 arrange themselves according to chemical (?) laws 

 and form fibres. Where vesicles arrange themselves, 

 there arise canals and vessels." In the latter sen- 

 tence one cannot fail to note a close approximation 

 to the truth, though the facts upon which the theory 

 was based are partly false and partly misinterpreted. 

 But the observations and writings of Milne Ed- 

 wards* may be looked upon as having given, more 

 than any other author, position and popularity to the 

 " globular theory." lie examined all the principal 

 tissues, and announced that the fibres of the then so- 

 called cellular (fibrous) tissues, membranes composed 

 of these fibres, muscle and nerve, were composed 

 of globules of about the same size, from gJ^ to 

 t5 i n _ of an inch in diameter; whence he concluded 

 that these spherical corpuscles, by their aggregation, 

 constituted all organic textures, vegetable or animal, 

 and whatsoever their properties or functions. There 

 is little doubt but that many of these so-called glob- 

 ules described by Edwards were really cells, seen 

 with indifferent instruments, and further distorted by 

 the glare of direct sunlight. 



* Edwards, loc. citat. 



