158 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE, 



I ■ 



previously, and also subsequently ^ in actual words:— « AH 

 that is essential to the cell or elementary part is matter 



that is In the living state — germinal matter^ and matter 

 that has been in the living state— formed material' Such 



'^formed material' as Dr. Beale here speaks of may 

 be necessary in order to support certain theories, but it 

 does not actually exist in the simplest living things or 

 elemental living parts — these are, as he has himself 

 frequently stated^ perfectly structureless 2. 



But even 



^s?> 



as to the constitution of the ^ cell' had undergone these 

 modifications — or rather, as we should more strictly say, 

 before it had been generally acknowledged that vital 



mere bits of 



manifestations could be displayed 



protoplasm lacking this form hitherto supposed ne- 



cessary — Professor Huxley 



forth ^ a powerful 



remonstrance against the then all-prevalent ^cellular 

 theory ' of organization. His opinions were announced 

 even five years before Virchow, the last great champion 

 of the old doctrine, issued his celebrated <^ Cellular Patho- 



logic/ Follow 

 and Von Baer 



t> 



main the doctrines of Wolff 



H 



contended that the 



primitive organic substance is a homogeneous plasma 



1 Idem, p. 55. 



2 If the reader chooses to consult Dr. Beale's work on ' Protoplasm, 

 it will be found — in accordance with fact rather than theory — that the 

 figures of living things and elementary parts there given in PI il» 

 especially figs. 3, 5, and 6, represent only homogeneous living matter, 

 with no trace of formed material externally. Dr. Beale's accuracy as an 



i 



observer is thoroughly well known. 



3 See ' British and Foreign Medical Chirurglcal Review,' i853> P- 3°^- 



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corresponding wit' 

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 itamorphic proc^ 

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 tried 



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