210 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[November, 



to Morphology, and its bearing on 



Suestions of affinity and classification. 

 * « * * « 



The claim of histology to rank as 

 a distinct department of science might 

 well be allowed to rest upon the 

 amount and the nature of its increased 

 importance, both physiological and 

 morphological, that I have indicated ; 

 there is another consideration in its 

 favor, however, that I regard as far 

 weightier. I have hitherto spoken of 

 tissues and their activities as related 

 to the functions and the structure of 

 organs and organisms. I would now 

 call your attention to the value of the 

 study of cell-life considered in itself. 



We have most of us had our eyes 

 opened for some time to the magni- 

 tude and the significance of the 

 struggle for existence that goes on at 

 all times between organisms ; it is 

 only recently, however, that our atten- 

 tion has been definitely called to the 

 struggle of parts within the organism, 

 and to the probable truth that every 

 organ is where it is and what is 

 through a long series of adaptations 

 to its environment. And this analy- 

 sis must be carried still farther : for 

 a:s the body is built up of its organs, 

 so, as I have already said, is each or- 

 gan the result of the integration of its 

 cellular elements. The great law of 

 biology that gives order and system 

 elsewhere leaves no chaos here ; and 

 our histology is not complete until 

 every tissue and every cell has been 

 studied in its light. 



Here, then, is our province. Is it 

 not ample enough ? It embraces the 

 study of cell-life, in all its bearings, 

 in plant and animal alike. Since 

 sound fundamental ideas of the laws 

 which govern cell-life can only be ob- 

 tained by prolonged and careful study 

 of those plants and animals which 

 consist but of single cells, or of undif- 

 ferentiated social aggregates of cells, 

 I claim for hearing here all papers re- 

 lating to the Protozoa and the Proto- 

 phyta, including particulary the fer- 

 ment-organisms on account of their 

 frequent pathogenetic function. Be- 



fore us come, of course, all papers 

 dealing with cell-life in the higher 

 organisms ; papers alike upon the 

 morphology of cells and on higher 

 morphological questions treated by 

 histological methods ; papers alike on 

 the development of cells and on the 

 structure and significance of embryo- 

 nic layers and tissues. The newer 

 histology is still the helpmeet if not 

 the servant of physiology ; while large 

 place will be given here to questions 

 of cellular teratology— for what is pa- 

 thological histology other than this ? 

 Lastly, but not leastly, we shall wel- 

 come here all papers and discussions 

 calculated to help us either to better 

 microscopes, or to a wiser use of those 

 that we now have. 



Composition and Microscopical 

 Structure of CoaL 



BY PROFESSOR P. F. REINSCH.* 



Among the various branches of 

 Natural Science the history of the 

 formation of the surface of our planet 

 claims a large amount of general in- 

 terest. It is of interest to know the 

 life and the phases of life of any great 

 individual; and much more the his- 

 tory of the body of our planet. It 

 cannot be denied that, to a certain 

 degree, tendencies to evolution do 

 exist in the various phases of trans- 

 mutation which the matter of the 

 earth has undergone ; that relations 

 between the phases following one 

 another do exist, just as in organized 

 bodies — in one word, in the phases 

 of transmutation of our planet we see 

 development. * ♦ * 



The space intervening between the 

 formation of primitive gneiss and the 

 present time may properly be styled 

 the phase of organic life in the life- 

 history of the earth. Organic life be- 

 comes an important factor in the 

 transmutations and formations on the 



* Read before the Victoria (Philosophical) 

 Institute, London, Eng. The name "car- 

 bon coal " in this article refers to coal of the 

 carboniferous period. 



