106 PROTOPLASM THEORY SINCE 1860. 



viewer of Beale's " Todd and Bowman," while highly com- 

 mending the work done, and stating that Dr. Beale " alone 

 takes a place worthy of the British name beside the histologists 

 of Germany," still he is " unwilling to admit that the exterior 

 of the cell possesses none of the vital properties, and is a mere 

 passive, lifeless agent, and that indeed a large part perhaps 

 the larger part of our bodies, being composed of cell walls, is 

 in this condition." Dr. Bastian, in his " Beginnings of Life," 

 objects to the absolute distinction into living matter and 

 formed material, stating that the simplest living things present 

 no such distinction of parts as those spoken of by Beale ; then 

 adds, " It has always appeared to me to be a very fundamental 

 objection to his theory that so many of the most characteristi- 

 cally vital phenomena should take place through the agency of 

 tissues muscle and nerve, for instance by far the greater 

 part of the bulk of which would, in accordance with Dr. 

 Beale's view, have to be considered as dead and inert " (155). 

 Again, "Dr. Beale's dictum that the matter which he calls 

 ' formed material ' is dead, we regard as a singularly founda- 

 tionless hypothesis, the maintenance of which is beset with 

 difficulties. If muscles and nerves perform work, such func- 

 tional activity must be attended by tissue changes in their very 

 substance. How, then, is repair to be effected ? Not after the 

 fashion in which living tissues are renovated, for these, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Beale, are dead, and therefore cannot be amenable 

 to the laws which govern the repair of living structures. I 

 have no faith, however, in the ability of carmine to discrimi- 

 nate the not-living from the living, and can only state my 

 total inability to accept the opinion of Dr. Beale." We da 

 not wonder that any one who could hold such a doctrine 

 as tins should exhibit so much antagonism towards the evo- 

 lution hypothesis. But how such marvellously abrupt tran- 

 sitions are brought about we are not told ; and Dr. Beale, 

 moreover, forgets to mention upon what evidence he feels him- 

 self entitled to make such positive and startling assertions. 



To a certain extent, however, we find there is an agreement 

 between Dr. Beale's doctrine and that of other excellent ob- 

 servers. He says :* " However much organisms and tissues 

 * Loc. cit., p. 48. 



