Il8 CELL THEORIES. 



bring masses of albuminoid matter into view not 

 only by outline but throughout their extent, the 

 general existence of such masses in bodies of the 

 sort which had been known as cells came to be 

 recognized, and, as a natural consequence, it gradu- 

 ally dawned on the minds of independent observers 

 that the outlines of such masses were the things 

 which, in many instances, had been translated 

 as cell-walls. 



Two other advances aided in completing a 

 revolution of opinion with regard to cell-walls, 

 namely, the discovery of corpuscles undergoing 

 amoeboid changes of form and migrations, and the 

 tracing of nerves in many instances into continuity 

 with nucleated corpuscles. Thus a change has 

 crept into the whole conception of the nature of 

 those vital units whose importance functionally 

 had been first recognized in the case of some which 

 had apparently a cellular form ; and thus it hap- 

 pens that the term cell is still employed in many 

 instances in which it would be better to use the 

 word corpuscle. A nucleated corpuscle is as con- 

 venient an expression as a nucleated cell ; a 

 connective-tissue-corpuscle is an expression which 

 involves no theory or description either of structure 

 or function ; and it would be an enormous advant- 

 age to the spread of accurate ideas if the word cell 



