ON THE NEUROGLIA 297 



aeration, after which, it is distributed, to the various tissues 

 to be nourished, in the form of a, more, or less, vitalised 

 corpuscular compound, to be still further vitalised, by 

 selective absorption, by, and incorporation with, the living 

 elements of the tissues. We therefore, content ourselves 

 with the advancement of the statement, that matter, in the 

 process of vital incorporation , can only be said to be absolutely 

 alive, when the process of vital incorporation with the living, 

 and working, elements of the body, is absolutely complete ; before 

 that, it may be described, as only partially alive, while after 

 that, it is less than absolutely alive its pre-, and post- 

 integrative experiences, being the positive, and negative, 

 aspects, of the great process of nutrition. As applied to 

 the growth, and nutrition, of the systemic nervous system, 

 we recognise a somewhat unique, or exceptional, sequence 

 of formative events, in that, as the nutritive pabulum is 

 not extracted, or absorbed, directly, from the blood cir- 

 culation, and haemal nutritive media, by the nourished 

 textures, but laid down for neuronal absorption, and 

 incorporation, within the storage areas of the neuroglial 

 structure ; where it remains, until it is taken up by 

 the dendritic processes of the countless nerve cells, we 

 may, therefore, infer, that the amorphous, and the, more, 

 or less, developed, vitalised, and organised, matter, of the 

 neuroglia, is absorbed by the nerve cells, in a condition of 

 more, or less, active, life, or vital dynamic potentiality, 

 and that it is vitally preserved, conserved, or kept in readi- 

 ness, for nervine absorption, and incorporation. 



In all this departure, from the ordinary mode of physio- 

 logical provision of nutritive material, in the processes of 

 growth, and repair, of neuro-cellular, tissue, we perceive a 

 means of nervine supply, which we may describe as 

 " balanced," whereby, constancy, and immediate avail- 

 ability, are secured, independently of the ordinary, and 

 somewhat fluctuating, haemal, nutritional resources. Thus, 

 we see provided, amid the meshes of the neuroglial con- 

 nective textures, contained within the brain, cord, and 

 ganglia, of the systemic, and the sympathetic, nervous 

 systems, a vast quantity, or a storage, of the raw material 

 of nerve pabulum or prospective nerve plasma, ready for 

 conversion into actual neuronal plasma, by a specific 



