ioo NUTRITION. 



of its constituents, undergo conversion into this active 

 living substance, and acquire its properties and powers, 

 portions of the germinal matter from time to time losing 

 their original vital properties, and undergoing conversion 

 into lifeless formed material. 



So far, then, it would seem that in the process of 

 nutrition pabulum passes into living germinal matter, and is 

 converted into this substance. The formed material or 

 tissue which, in many cases, constitutes the chief increase 

 in weight and bulk, has all passed through the state of ger- 

 minal matter. The formation of this germinal matter from 

 the pabulum is therefore the important part of the process, 

 but it is one most difficult to investigate, if indeed it be 

 not altogether beyond the province of investigation. 



It is most interesting to inquire by what means the 

 soluble pabulum is caused to pass into the germinal matter. 

 No form of attraction or affinity that we are acquainted with 

 will account for the passage of pabulum towards and into 

 the germinal matter. The question is one upon which I 

 have ventured to speculate. The tendency which every 

 mass of germinal matter exhibits to divide into smaller por- 

 tions, each part appearing to move away from other portions, 

 suggests the idea of there being some centrifugal force in 

 operation. This moving away of particles from a centre 

 will necessarily create a tendency of the fluid around to 

 move towards the centre ; I think, therefore, that the 

 nutrient pabulum is, as it were, drawn in by centripetal cur- 

 rents, excited by the centrifugal movements of the particles 

 of the living germinal matter. How is it that vitality gives 

 to matter the power of moving away from centres I cannot 



