NUTRITION A VITAL ACT. 71 



narrowed to the study of the changes taking place in 

 the transparent living matter itself, and the production 

 of the material on its surface" (" Biopl.," p. 6). So far from 

 the food of an animal being " a portion of the environ- 

 ing matter that contains some compound atoms, like 

 some of the compound atoms constituting its tissues," 

 as Herbert Spencer says, and which are selected and 

 deposited, Beale, like Fletcher (seep. 10), lays stress on 

 the fact that the pabulum in general contains none of 

 the proximate principles of the tissue ; and, even when, 

 some such are contained in it, ready formed, every 

 part of the pabulum is decomposed, and its elements 

 re-arranged, and it is converted into living matter. 

 "Every particle of matter that is to become tissue 

 must first pass through the living state, and its pro- 

 perties, character, and composition will be determined 

 partly by the internal forces or powers of the living 

 matter acting upon the elements of which it is com- 

 posed, and partly by the external conditions present at 

 the time when these pass from the living to the 

 formed state" (" Biopl.," p. 72). This does not apply only 

 to crude food, but also to the most highly elaborated 

 blood, which, as pabulum, is always merely dead 

 formed material, and never can nourish in virtue of 

 the living particles it contains. 



During nutrition, and all vital action, the living matter 

 is supposed to be in the physical state described at p. 

 55. The tendency of the particles to move from a centre, 

 iis there described, necessarily creates a tendency in the 

 fluid around to move towards the centre. Thus the nu- 

 trient pabulum is as it were incessantly attracted towards 

 the centre of each bioplast, and the newly-formed bio- 



