MENTAL GERMINAL MATTER. 151 



before other kinds existing in the same organism had ceased 

 to manifest vital phenomena. And I may remark that the 

 length of time during which different forms of germinal 

 matter survive the general death of the organism varies 

 greatly some dying very soon, while others live even for 

 days. The capacity for living under altered conditions 

 becomes greater as we descend from the highest towards 

 the lowest kinds of germinal matter, the highest being killed 

 by slight alteration in the surrounding circumstances, while 

 the lowest resist very considerable changes, and for long 

 periods of time. The pus corpuscle and the particle of 

 contagium, both which are descendants of the germinal 

 matter of the organism, retain their vitality under conditions 

 which certainly would have been fatal to the germinal 

 matter from which they sprang.* The power of resisting 

 the destroying influence of varying external conditions seems 

 to increase as germinal matter becomes more and more 

 debased. 



And it is interesting to note here, that this, the highest 

 form of germinal matter, when exposed to altered conditions, 

 dies, instead of, like many lower forms of germinal matter, 

 growing, and mulitiplying, and giving origin to masses 

 of germinal matter possessing different properties. In in- 

 flammation this is, so to say, protected by the lower forms 

 of germinal matter in the immediate neighbourhood, taking 

 upon themselves increased growth and multiplication, and 

 absorbing the excess of nutrient matter present. The 

 germinal matter of the connective tissue of the pia mater 



* See my Report on the Cattle Plague, 1865. 



