158 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



previously, and also subsequently 1 in actual words: 'All 

 that is essential to the cell or elementary part is matter 

 that is in the living state germinal matter^ and matter 

 that has been in the living state formed material? Such 

 c formed material' as Dr. Beale here speaks of may 

 be necessary in order to support certain theories, but it 

 does not actually exist in the simplest living things or 

 elemental living parts these are, as he has himself 

 frequently stated, perfectly structureless 2 . 



But even so far back as 1853, before the doctrine 

 as to the constitution of the c cell' had undergone these 

 modifications or rather, as we should more strictly say, 

 before it had been generally acknowledged that vital 

 manifestations could be displayed by mere bits of 

 protoplasm lacking this form hitherto supposed ne- 

 cessary Professor Huxley had put forth 3 a powerful 

 remonstrance against the then all-prevalent c cellular 

 theory ' of organization. His opinions were announced 

 even five years before Virchow, the last great champion 

 of the old doctrine, issued his celebrated c Cellular Patho- 

 logic.' Following in the main the doctrines of Wolff 

 and Von Baer, Professor Huxley contended that the 

 primitive organic substance is a homogeneous plasma 



1 Idem, p. 55. 



2 If the reader chooses to consult Dr. Beale's work on ' Protoplasm,' 

 it will be found in accordance with fact rather than theory that the 

 figures of living things and elementary parts there given in PL II, 

 especially figs. 3, 5, and 6, represent only homogeneous living matter, 

 with no trace of formed material externally. Dr. Beale's accuracy as an 

 observer is thoroughly well known. 



3 See ' British and Foreign Medical Chirurgical Review,' 1853, P- 3^- 



