62 PROF. LIONEL S. BEALE, F.R.C.P., F.R.S., ON VITALITY, 
movement in which a proportion of bioplasm does not cease 
to live. In active life, the place of the minute portion which 
is changed—which «dies ”"oiving rise perhaps to vital 
movement and other phenomena, is taken by the conversion 
of a corresponding portion of non-living matter (nutriment) 
into the living. ‘These views lead one “to try to form a sort 
of mental picture of lite in action—changes absolutely 
impossible to see and study in the case of a complex organism 
hke man and that of the higher animals, but to be demon- 
strated without difficulty im the case of some low and 
comparatively simple living organisms. 
No man could in a portion, say, of the active part of the 
brain, or indeed of any part of the body the size of the 
head of a very small pin, see, as it were, mentally, at the 
same moment, “all the vital and other changes which are 
taking place in that one small piece of brain matter— 
perhaps in the thinnest section, the thousandth part of an 
inch in extent ; but it might be possible, from observation of 
the arrangement of the structure es, to form a conception, 
though hardly a mental picture, of the wonderful changes 
going on during one moment of action or rest from action, 
but this probably i is the utmost that can yet be gained by 
one who has a good knowledge of the facts known con- 
cerning the development and growth of the so-called “ brain 
cells” and their phenomena during life. 
In some of the lower living organisms, the comparatively 
simple amoeba for example, a correct general idea of what 
occurs in the bioplasm or living matter of the minute 
living particles concerned in ment: al vital action may perhaps 
be formed. A young amoeba possibly contains, in a given 
minute portion, more matter actually alive at one moment 
than any other living particle that can be examined 
separately without causing death or irreparable injury. 
This iyving matter seems © be, to the highest magnifying 
powers obtainable, as structureless as water, By the 
spontaneous movements effected by vital power, small 
portions may be detached, and these may fmther divide 
and Jae Thus from one small living particle a 
great number may be produced, every one possessing 
precisely the same powers as the original particle from 
which they originated. 
Let me now offer a few remarks upon some organ which 
in its active state will help us to form some idea of the 
wonderful changes which are going on in our bodies during 
