92 VIRCHOW AND GOODSIR. 



and the multiplication of their nuclei when influenced 

 by morbid changes ; the rupture of these enlarged pro- 

 liferating cells, and the discharge of their nucleated 

 contents ; the destruction, scooping out, and solution of 

 textures by the action of the forces residing in these 

 new formed structures ; the presence of soft nucleated 

 masses in the lacunas and Haversian canals of bone, 

 and the part which they play in the absorption of 

 bone ; and the changes which take place in nucleated 

 cells in connection with cyst-formation — all testify to 

 the largeness of his observation of cell-life, both phy- 

 siologically and pathologically. 



In the first of these memoirs not only does he advo- 

 cate the importance of the cell as a centre of nutrition, 

 but argues that the organism is subdivided into a num- 

 ber of departments, " each containing a certain number 

 of simple or developed cells, all of which hold certain 

 relations to one central or capital cell around which 

 they are grouped." This idea has since been freely 

 made use of by Professor Virchow, though, it must be 

 admitted, without a due acknowledgment of the quarter 

 in which it was originally stated, and it has obviously 

 influenced many of his physiological and pathological 

 speculations. This reticence is the more strange, as 

 Virchow dedicated his work on Cellular Pathologic 

 to the Edinburgh professor in the following compli- 

 mentary terms : — " To John Goodsir, F.R.S. etc., as 

 one of the earliest and most acute observers of cell-life, 

 both physiological and pathological, this work on 

 Cellular Pathology is dedicated, as a slight testimony 



