1 1 2 FROM HEAL TH TO DISEASE. 



These separate themselves and move away from the 

 parent mass. Each of these little germs has pro- 

 perties in many respects like those of the parent 

 mass, though it may possess the capacity for forming 

 matters which the parent mass could not have pro- 

 duced. Each bioplasm particle lives and grows, 

 attains a certain size, and may produce its kind in the 

 same way. 



Now, the whole human organism at a very early 

 early period of its development consisted entirely of 

 little masses of living bioplasm like those above 

 referred to. Each of these grew and divided and sub- 

 divided, so that multitudes at length resulted from 

 the division of a few. All were descendants of the 

 first primitive germinal mass, which was itself derived 

 from pre-existing germinal matter. After a time some 

 of the bioplasm particles cease to multiply, though 

 they still live and take up food. The living matter 

 of which they are composed undergoes change. It 

 dies under certain conditions, and " tissue " results. 

 In this way muscle, and nerve, and fibrous tissue, and 

 bone, and hair, and horn, and nail, and all other 

 textures, are formed. In the adult, however, there 

 remain some masses of germinal matter which 

 go on growing and dividing just as all grew and 

 multiplied in the embryo. Among these are the 

 white or colourless blood-corpuscles, which possess 

 formative power even in old age in greater degree 

 than any other form of bioplasm in the adult, as has 



