9 6 NUTRITION. 



blood-corpuscles nourished the fibrous textures that fat 

 selected fatty matter from the blood, muscle fibrinous 

 material, and so on, but these notions are not supported by 

 facts more recently demonstrated. 



In a paper which I communicated to the Microscopical 

 Society in 1 864, I endeavoured to show that the blood, like 

 the tissues, might be looked upon as composed of germinal 

 or living matter, and formed material. The white blood- 

 corpuscles and smaller corpuscles, probably of similar cha- 

 racter, which last I showed were to be detected in the 

 the blood, consist of germinal matter ; while the red blood- 

 corpuscles, the albumen, and some other constituents, are 

 to be regarded as formed material, being composed of non- 

 living matter, possessing, it may be, peculiar characters, 

 properties, and chemical composition, but resulting from 

 changes taking place in pre-existing germinal matter. Tr^e 

 white blood-corpuscles, therefore, are themselves composed 

 of living matter, which is nourished, and they cannot, as 

 white blood-corpuscles contribute to the nutrition of any 

 tissues whatever. Living matter never nourishes living 

 matter^ although, of course, the products resulting from the 

 death of many forms of living matter do so in an eminent 

 degree. 



With regard to the red blood-corpuscles, it seems to me 

 probable that they play a highly important part in equal- 

 ising the temperature in all parts of the body, taking away 

 heat from parts whose temperature is above the normal 

 standard, and distributing heat to textures which are colder 

 than they should be. At the same time it must be borne 

 in mind that the red blood-corpuscles themselves are 



