1881.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



135 



and division of the several masses 

 under then existing external condi- 

 tions ; the dimensions each was to 

 attain, as well as its properties, com- 

 position, color, and the like being 

 due to the life, force, or power each 

 separate mass derived from the par- 

 ental one which gave it origin, and 

 from which it had been detached. 

 But while the above phenomena are 

 proceeding, changes are also oc- 

 curring on the surface of each mass. 

 The living matter in this situation, 

 whether from the particles first 

 formed, and being therefore the old- 

 est, reaching the surface, and coming 

 to the end of their living existence, 

 or from some other cause I cannot 

 say — passes out of the living state, 

 and the component particles, or cer- 

 tain of them, combine, assume a cer- 

 tain form, and acquire physical pro- 

 perties they never possessed before. 

 The formed material thus produced 

 owes its color, chemical composition, 

 physical characters, internal struc- 

 ture, and the like, to the vital force 

 or property in obedience to which 

 the elements of the matter were 

 made to occupy such positions and 

 assume such relations, with respect to 

 one another, just before death as must 

 ensure the formation of the particular 

 substances which result. * * * 



There is not, I think, any good 

 reason for accepting the conclusioi;! 

 that one of a collection of elementary 

 parts, at any period of development, 

 can sympathize or otherwise influ- 

 ence the actions of others, as Virchow 

 seems to think. The suggestion that 

 any force or power acting, as it were, 

 from a centre, governs, regulates and 

 determines the changes taking place 

 in surrounding and more or less dis- 

 tant particles, is, in n^y opinion, in- 

 admissible. ******* 



One can indeed conceive tissues 

 of the most elaborate character, and 

 new matter of the most wonderful 

 properties and most complex compo- 

 sition, being developed in the most 

 regular and orderly manner without 

 supposing that any governing or con- 



trolling power acts upon them all, as 

 it were, from a centre. That the 

 most wonderful order is manifest in 

 the arrangement of the component 

 elementary parts, say, of a growing 

 leaf, must be obvious to every one 

 who has examined it ; but I. feel con- 

 fident that as soon as each living par- 

 ticle has been detached from the mass 

 which preceded, it is no longer influ- 

 enced by the latter, and does not in- 

 fluence neighboring masses. Each 

 may be pressed upon by its neigh- 

 bors, and press upon them in turn 

 during growth, but there is no reason 

 to suppose that any one determines 

 the composition, governs the motion 

 or regulates the action of others. 

 The nutrient matter is distributed 

 to all by vessels or channels running 

 amongst the several collections. 

 Those elementary parts farthest from 

 the nutrient supply will grow more 

 slowly than those nearest to it, but no 

 formative or constructive or synthetic 

 or analytic influence is exerted by the 

 nutrient fluid upon the living matter, 

 nor by the several elementary parts 

 upon one another. Each is under 

 the influence of the vital power asso- 

 ciated with the matter of which it in 

 part consists ; and whether each can 

 exist independently if separated from 

 its neighbors, or dies soon after it is 

 detached, depends not upon any in- 

 fluence exerted upon it by these 

 neighbors, but simply upon the in- 

 herent capabilities of its own vital 

 power, transmitted to it from the liv- 

 ing matter which existed before it, 



and of which it once formed a part. 

 ********** 



Now as regards the nature of the 

 actual phenomena of living matter 

 which are at present beyond the 

 range of observation, at least two di- 

 ametrically opposite ideas are enter- 

 tained. 



I. There is the common-place no- 

 tion that structure exists which will 

 account for the actions which take 

 place, but that the details of this sup- 

 posed structure are too minute or too 

 delicate to be demonstrated by any 



