134 RELATION OF THE FAT TO THE BIOPLASM. 



invariably results from the transformation of livinrj 

 matter. Different kinds of living matter, as is v:ell 

 Jcnoum, produce different Tciiids of fat. The properties 

 and composition of fat in d'fferent animals differ, be- 

 cause the powers of the bioplasm or living matter of 

 each animal are so different. 



189. Relation of the fat to the bioplasm. — In my 

 lectures at the College of Physicians, in 1861, I showed 

 the precise relation which the oil or fat bears to the 

 included micleua or mass of bioplasm, and I pointed out 

 that the fVit of the fat cell and the s*^arch of the starch, 

 cell were formed by the bioplasm itself (§§ 127, 128). 

 Nevertljeless, some who have written since have 

 affirmed that we still remain completely ignorant of 

 the rela'ion between the fatty matter and the bio- 

 plasm of the cell. By aid of the plan of preparation 

 already referred to, the change in amonnt of the bio- 

 plasm and its relation to the formed fatty matter may 

 be so accurately demonstrated in cells at different 

 stages of development that it seems to me not a doubt 

 remains concerning the mode of formation of the fat, 

 and the true relation which the bioplasm bears in all 

 cases to this substance. 



190. Of the oil prlohule of the fat vessicle. — The 

 little Gflobule of fat havins: been once formed in the 

 substance of the bioplasm, may increase in size by 

 the addition of new particles to it, until the globule 

 becomes larger and larger, being at last, perhaps, fifty 

 times the size of the bioplast that remains, or the 

 number of globules may increase until a compound 

 mass, consisting of hundreds of separate little oil 

 globules, results. In most mammalia, and in man, the 

 globule is single, but in some of the reptiles (Izard, 

 snake, chameleon) the fat cells in many of the tif^sues 

 consist of numerous separate oil globules, almost 

 uniform in size. And in some parts of the organ'sm 

 of some mammalia (rat, mouse), and even in certain 

 cases in man himself, the same fact has been noticed. 



