DEVELOPMENT OF LIVING MATTER. 53 



Lastly, I would take into consideration a peculiarity in 

 the phases of life of the protoplasm, as evidenced by obser- 

 vations on living corpuscles in a healthy as well as a diseased 

 condition. 



Young, compact protoplasm is in a high degree possessed of 

 the property of coalescing with analogous protoplasm, and thus 

 change its configuration, whereas it exhibits the property of 

 active mobility in a slight degree only. The power of locomo- 

 tion is entirely absent. Under certain circumstances f. i., on the 

 border of ossification of the epiphyseal and intermediate carti- 

 lage the living matter is split into pieces, broken apart. The 

 best representation of a normal division I have observed in the 

 haematoblastic substance within the cavities of the cartilage, the 

 results of which division are the haematoblasts. 



The power of active motion evidently increases by degrees j 

 the more the liquid accumulates in the mesh-spaces of the proto- 

 plasm, within certain limits of its bulk, the smaller and paler, 

 therefore, the granules become. The "pale and finely granular" 

 protoplasm of the authors, which holds a very delicate reticulum, 

 has also the most marked capacity of locomotion, upon raising 

 its temperature to that of the whole body in a normal condition 

 and in fever. The capacity of compact nuclei and nucleoli of 

 changing shape and place, on the contrary, seems to be very 

 limited or wanting. We must consider the protoplasma of the 

 latter formations as relatively the younger, so far as its shape is 

 concerned. 



The Cell-theory in the Light of these Researches. The theory of 

 the animal cells, as established by Th. Schwann,* was greatly 

 altered in 1861, by the researches of Max Schultze.t Since then, 

 the best observers have agreed that " cell" was to designate a lump 

 of protoplasm, without a membrane and even without a nucleus. 

 It was added that the protoplasm appeared structureless. E. 

 Briicke'st attempt to show that the lump was an u elementary 

 organism " was, for that time, in a certain sense, progress. 



The term " cell " remained, although a different meaning was 

 attached to it than at the time of its origin, and all observers 



* Mikroskopisehe Untersuchungen iiber die Uebereinstimmung in der 

 Structur und dem Wachsthum der Thiere und Planzen. Berlin, 1839. 



t Ueber Muskelkorperchen und das, was man eine Zelle zu nennen habe. 

 Miiller's Archiv. 1861. 



t Die Elementarorganismen. Sitzungsber. d. Wiener Akademie der Wis- 

 sensch. 1861. 



