CHAPTER V. 



BEALE'S PROTOPLASMIC THEORY (continued). 



THE problem is now to account for all the vital phe- 

 nomena of a complicated individual of the higher 

 orders by the sole action of this structureless, clear, 

 semi-fluid matter. Of course, it would be quite out of 

 place to go into the details of the formation, nutrition, 

 and function of the individual organs and tissues, but it 

 may be interesting to give an outline of the general pro- 

 cess of formation of tissues, and of nutrition, secretion, 

 and absorption, and of the process of blood formation. 

 In the production of formed material from the living 

 matter, as represented in its simplest form as cell 

 walls, or the capsules of fungus spores, the formed 

 material first appears as a thin film on the surface of 

 the bioplast. Then it is increased in quantity, not by 

 deposition from soluble matters on the outside of that 

 film, but always by formation on what is still the sur- 

 face of the bioplast, although now covered, and, there- 

 fore, all increase takes place inside of the cell wall. 

 " The growth of an elemental unit takes place always 

 from within." At the same time, the outer surface 



