50 ENDOSMOSE. L.ECT. III. 



dosmose is not produced by the least dense liquid, nor by 

 the most viscid one, nor by that which is endowed with the 

 greatest force of ascent in capillary tubes. The current is 

 in general determined by the liquid which has the greatest 

 affinity for the interposed substance, and by which it is 

 imbibed with the greatest rapidity. In fact it is evident 

 that the membrane imbibes the two liquids unequally ; and 

 that the one which is imbibed with the greatest facility, 

 ought to mix with, and augment the volume of, the other. 



Endosmosein Living Beings. What we have here stated 

 must be sufficient to ^convince you that this phenomenon is 

 perhaps one of the most important physical facts applicable 

 to the functions of living beings. Microscopic observation 

 has now put beyond doubt that, in all tissues, whether 

 vegetable or animal, and in those liquids which are pro- 

 duced by the alteration of organized and living beings, there 

 are constantly found, at a certain epoch, microscopic cor- 

 puscles, which have a peculiar and characteristic form, and 

 are called elementary or primitive cells. These bodies 

 consist of an exceedingly delicate membrane, which has a 

 spherical form, encloses a liquid, and has on its inner side 

 a small organized body, called the nucleus or cyto-blast. 

 The cells float at first in a liquid, which Schwann has named 

 cyto-blastema, and they ultimately become included in, and 

 almost confounded with it, when this liquid acquires a 

 greater or less density. In different tissues, the elementary 

 cells are more or less closely approximated to each other ; 

 the cyto-blastema, or intercellular substance, being invariably 

 the bond of union between them. The life of the elemen- 

 tary cells certainly plays the most essential part in the de- 

 velopment and preservation of the tissues of living bodies; 

 and, since these cells are found under conditions favourable 

 to endosmose, we have no reason for refusing to admit its 

 existence. A vesicle filled with a liquid, and placed in the 



