130 PROSERPINA. 



" than an aggregation of cells, which, first of spherical 

 form, have become polyhedric by their increase and mu- 

 tual compression." 



10. Now these figures, 38 and 39, which profess to 

 represent this change, show us sixteen oval cells, such as 

 at A, (Fig. 24) enlarged into thirteen larger, and flattish, 

 hexagons ! B, placed at a totally different angle. 



And before I can give you the figure revised with any 

 available accuracy, I must know why or how the cells are 

 enlarged, and in what direction. 



Do their walls lengthen laterally when they are empty, 

 or does the ' matiere ' inside stuff them more out, (itself 

 increased from what sources ?) when they are full? In 

 either case, during this change from circle to hexagon, is 



O O Z3 / 



the marrow getting thicker without getting longer ? If 

 so, the change in the angle of the cells is intentional, and 



? O O * 



probably is so; but the number of cells should have been 

 the same : and further, the term ' hexagonal ' can only be 

 applied to the section of a tubular cell, as in honeycomb, 

 so that the floor and ceiling of our pith cell are left un- 

 described. 



1J. Having got thus much of (partly conjectural) idea 

 of the mechanical structure of marrow, here follows the 

 solitary vital, or mortal, fact in the whole business, given 

 in one crushing sentence at the close : 



"The medullary tissue" (first time of using this fine 

 phrase for the marrow, why can't he say marrowy tis- 

 sue ' tissue moei lease ' ?) " appears very early struck with 



