140 Royal Society : — 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 



December 20, 1866. — Dr. William Allen Miller, Treasurer and 

 Vice-President, in the Chair. 



"On the Formation of 'Cells' in Animal Bodies." By E. 

 Montgomery, M.D. 



I. Observations. 



So called organic "cells," chiefly those of various cancerous 

 tumours, were seen, on the addition of water, to expand to several times 

 their original size, and at last to vanish altogether into the surrounding 

 medium. 



The "nucleus" did not always participate in this change, but 

 at times remained unaltered, whilst the outer constituents of the "cell" 

 were undergoing this process of expansion. 



This curious phenomenon of extreme dilatation is intelligible only 

 on the supposition that the spherical bodies in question are in reality 

 globules of a uniformly viscid material, which by imbibition swells out 

 till at last its viscosity is overcome by the increasing liquefaction. 



In embryonic tissues and in various tumours, single "nuclei" 

 were seen, each surrounded by a shred of granular matter. On the 

 addition of water there would bulge from one of the margins of the 

 granular mass a segment of a clear globule, which continued growing 

 until it had become a full sphere, which ultimately detached itself, and 

 was carried away by the currents. At other times no such separate 

 globule would be emitted, but the entire granular shred would itself 

 gradually assume the spherical shape, ultimately encompassing the 

 " nucleus," and constituting with the same the most perfect typical 

 " cell." 



Not only single " nuclei " were found, each surrounded by a 

 shred, but also clusters of two, four, or more were seen similarly 

 enclosed by a proportionately large granular mass. Under these 

 circumstances it sometimes occurred that, on the addition of water, 

 the whole granular mass of such a cluster became transformed into 

 a large sphere containing two, four or more " nuclei." The resulting 

 body was to all appearance identical with shapes well known under 

 the name of " mother cells." In all these cases the granular shred 

 must have partly consisted of a viscid material, which, on imbibition, 

 naturally assumed the spherical shape. 



Primary globules were surrounded by a secondary globule, and 

 thus the typical " cell " was completed under the observer's eye. 



In some instances the globules resulting from the transformation 

 of the granular mass were at first bright and transparent, the 

 granules having completely disappeared. They, however, gradually 

 re-formed, showing at first molecular motion, then crowding more 

 and more, till at last the whole mass seemed to undergo coagulation. 



Alternate liquefaction and coagulation of the same material was 

 found to play an important part in the development of "cells." 



Masses of certain viscid materials do not, on imbibition, expand 



