GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY. 



Should we, after considering their minuteness, consider, 

 first, their physical properties, and then those which are uni- 

 versally vital we may note : 



Their Form. All the globules are primarily a small spher- 

 ical mass, homogeneous and compact. This form they pre- 

 sent in their early condition ; but afterwards from different 

 causes they change into a variety of forms and aspects. 

 Tims their homogeneous substance can be divided in auch a 

 way that on the inside of the superficial surface solid par- 

 ticles may be grouped, whilst a more fluid substance will 

 remain about the centre, and a kind of corpuscle will be 

 formed, having a limiting membrane with its contents. Then 

 the globule takes the form which merits generally the name 

 of a cell. The cell reigns almost universally throughout 



the vegetable kingdom; in the 

 animal kingdom, however, without 

 being exclusive we prefer gener- 

 ally the word globule, which more- 

 over recalls the primitive and 

 essential form. In the condition 

 of a cell, the vital element is com- 

 posed of an amorphous envelope, 



, and erranular and transparent con- 



Vegetable ceils (from the potato). , . .,,, * ,., 



tents, in the middle of which a 



vesicle is seen, called a " germ " (nucleus), which itself also 

 encloses another germ, called a nudeolus. 



Among certain physiologists, all these parts (envelopes, 

 contents, nucleus, and nucleolus) must be present in order 

 that the term living cell should be legitimate ; and even each 

 one of these parts must have a role of its own, the contents 

 presiding over the function, and the nucleus over the repro- 

 duction of the cell ; this is perhaps a little too precise. 



Thus many observers state that the nucleus disappears 

 from the ovule at the moment the latter begins to become 

 segmented, that is to say, multiplied; consequently the 

 word " cell " is not so general that we could adopt it to the 

 exclusion of the word " globule," for we do not think the per- 

 fect cell is met in every place where the phenomena of life 

 are observed, and that these latter disappear where the cell 

 does not exist. 



Besides this grouping in the primarily homogeneous mass, 

 the external form of the globules can undergo an infinite 

 variety of form ; as, for example, by the process of nutrition 

 the globule becomes larger ; again, compressed by its neigh- 



