FORMA TION OF ORGANS. 



93 



as development advances, there is, as far as is known, 

 no difference in matter which will account for the 

 result. The nerve or muscle producing bioplasm is, 

 as far as can be ascertained, the exact counterpart of 

 the gland or bone forming bioplasm, and why one 

 produces one tissue and the other a very different 

 tissue cannot be explained ; all these different forms 

 of bioplasm have descended from one, which may be 

 regarded as the parental mass, but in regular, definite, 

 and pre-arranged order ; so that if from any circum- 

 stance the bioplasm which is to form a gland or other 

 organ, or a member, is not produced, and does not 

 occupy its proper place at the right period' of develop- 

 mental progress, that gland, organ, or member will be 

 wanting in the particular organism. 



The manifestation of power or property to form 

 special parts with special functions proceeds in regular 

 order, progressively in one direction only as the germ 

 advances towards the particular perfect form it is to 

 attain. The power once lost can never be regained, 

 although life may continue to be manifested never- 

 theless, and perhaps more actively than before. ' If the 

 particles of bioplasm which were to take part in the 

 development, say of the brain, do not receive at the 

 proper period a supply of the right kind, or the 

 proper proportion of nourishment ; a well-developed 

 healthy brain cannot in that case be formed. The 

 particles may waste and die, or they may grow for a 

 time and then cease to progress further; or they may 



