164 REPORT — 1861. 



oppoitunity of oljsemng the fonnation of a blind vai-iety, ditFerIng in so luauy 

 respects from it? original, that, had it not been certainly known whence it sprung, it 

 would have ranked without hesitation as a distinct species, analogous to the Cave 

 Crustaceans, &c. ? The fact that all the examples brought from the pit die very 

 shortly after their removal thence, may have a close connexion with the altered 

 barometric pressure, and is not without interest. 



Phtsiologt. 



On the Structure and Growth of the Elementary Parts {Cells) of Livbij Beings, 

 By Professor Lioxel S. Beale, M.B., F.R.S. 

 The object of the author was to prove, amongst other points, that all tissues 

 consist of elementary parts, and that each elementary part (cell) is composed of 

 matter in two states — germinal matter icithin, and formed material externally. The 

 only part of the matter of which li^-ing structm-es are composed which possesses 

 the power of selecting pabulum, and of transfonning this into various substances — 

 of growing, multiplymg, and foinning tissue — is that whicli he terms germinal mat- 

 ter. The powers of growth of this matter are infinite ; but for the manifestation of 

 the powers, even in a limited degree, certain conditions must be present. Growth 

 alwavs occui'S under certain restiictlons. Germinal matter Is composed of spherical 

 particles, and each of these of smaller spherules. New centres of growth originate 

 in the spherical masses. Nuclei therefore are not fonned first, and other structures 

 built up around them ; but nuclei are new centres, originating in pre-existing cen- 

 tres. All tissue (cell-wall, intercellular substance, &c.) was once in the state of 

 germinal matter, and resulted from changes occurring in the oldest particles of the 

 ma-sses of germinal matter. What is tenned the " intercellular substance " corre- 

 sponds with the cell-wall of a single cell ; and there is no more i-eason for believing 

 that this structure results from any Inherent power to form matrix, or that the in- 

 tercellular substance is simply deposited from the nuti-Ient fluid, than for believing 

 that the capsule of mildew can grow independently of the matter It encloses, or 

 be fonned by being precipitated from the medium which surrounds it. There is a 

 pei-iod in the existence of cartilage and allied sti-uctures in which there is no true 

 " intercellular substance." In nutrition, the inanimate matter permeates the formed 

 material, and passes into the germinal matter, where it undergoes convei-slon into 

 this substance. The old particles of gcnnlnal matter become converted into formed 

 material. Growth, therefore, always takes place from centre to circumference. The 

 relative proportion of germinal matter and formed material varies greatly in different 

 elementary parts, in the same elementary part at different periods of its gi-owth, and 

 in the same tissue imder different circumstances. The more rapidly growth pi'o- 

 ceeds, the larger the amount of germinal matter produced in proportion to the 

 fonned material. In all ll\-ing beings, the matter upon which existence depends is 

 the germinal matter ; and In all living structures the genninal matter possesses the 

 same general characters, although its powers and the results of its life are so very 

 different. 



On a Method of Craniometry, with Observations on the Varieties of Form of 

 the Human Skull. By John- Cleland, M.D. 



The author remarked that, notwithstanding the great interest which attached to 

 the changes of form which the human skull imdergoes in the passage from infancy 

 to old age, and the varieties of its appearance in different nations, little had been 

 done as yet to determine what the various superficial appearances indicated as to 

 the exact form of the skull. It was as if artistic \'iews had been taken of the brain's 

 habitation from various points, but as yet no ground-plan attempted. And this 

 apparently resulted from the skuU being studied rather as an object of physiogno- 

 mical interest than as an anatomical structure. He then pointed out the method 

 which he had invented for making accurate measurements of the relations of any 

 series of points on the circumference of the cranium. The instrument consisted of 

 a framework and bars, by which the vertical and horizontal distance of any spot 



