BEALE'S PROTOPLASMIC THEORY. 41 



ing; and although, even if we could localize life in one 

 substance alone,* that would not explain its ultimate 

 nature, yet it would be a great step in science. That, 

 however, had not, as yet, been done by practical 

 histologists, and the foregoing observations, which 

 seem to us so plainly to point to one conclusion, still 

 remained isolated, or, at most, applied to development. 

 It seemed as if, at this stage, some master-mind was 

 waited for, who should unravel the complexity, and 

 reconcile the seeming contradictions of the previous 

 results of histological research, and show practically 

 how the whole circle of vital actions could be con- 

 tained in the changes of a single structureless ana- 

 tomical element, thus realizing the hypothesis of 

 Fletcher. 



Such appeared in 1860, we are glad to say, in the 

 person of our countryman, Dr. Lionel Beale, of London. 

 He had for years devoted himself with unwearied zeal 

 to microscopical research on the animal tissues, using 

 the highest magnifying powers as soon as available, 

 and had attained to an almost unrivalled skill in, and 

 had discovered various new methods of, the prepar- 

 ing objects which enabled him to analyze the struc- 

 tures of the textures to a point hitherto not reached 

 by anatomists. As the result of these original re- 

 searches, and no doubt taking into account the general 

 progress of biological science in this direction as given 

 above, he in 1859 drew attention to the significance of 



* "The Protoplasm or Sarcode theory, i.e., . . . that this albu- 

 minous material is the original active substratum of all vital pheno- 

 mena, may perhaps be considered one of the greatest achievements 

 of modern biology, and one of the richest in results." Hackel, Qu. 

 Mic. J., 1869, p. 223. 



