^ 



)/r 



zrp^^ 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



39 



^^ femotj fact that even the most typical colloids are capable of 

 '^^ to dawn,,, undergoing that kind of isomeric molecular change 



^'-'^ore organij, which converts them into crystalloids. As one of the 



xist 



I. 



or 



rganizabl; 



best instances of this we may mention the fact of the 



r 



change which blood pigment undergoes. Haematoidin 



-vertheless li ^ ^^ frequently met with in the form of oblique rhombic 



^mists are 

 -called org 



ank 



seems almost c? 

 ids 



crystals^ and in addition there are other crystalline 

 forms of albumenoid substances obtainable from blood ^. 



Amongst these 



may be included certain tetrahedral 

 crystals discovered by Reichert in connection with the 



^ placenta of the guinea-pig^ the behaviour of which to 



forces alone I 



reagents renders it certain that they were of an albu- 



i at a period an; menoid or protein nature. Chlorophyll also has been 



'hat mere 



lange and rer. 



observed in a crystalline state by M. TrecuP^ whilst 

 Dr. Montgomery ^ has depicted the results of a similar 



undergone. 



ical forces is s change which a tube of myeline had 



Dies and of^ These facts sufHciently prove that no impassable bar- 



n the conversif rier exists between the crystalloid and the colloid 



1 



1 rertaiiii^-^ states of matter^. Do we not see that simple saline 



Sani^ S^^ ^ S^^ ^^ article on 'Albuminous Crystallisation' in *Brit. and For. 



le 



5 now in 

 de of agg 



thetf 



ccs to ^' 



■hich 



Med. Chir. Rev./ Oct. 1853. 



2 ' Comptes Rendus/ t. Ixi. p. 436. 



^ ' On the Formation of so-called Cells in Animal Bodies/ 1867. 



* In a paper recently read before the Royal Society (Proceedings, 

 vol. xix. [1871] p. 455), by Dr. Marcet, entitled, ' An Experimental 

 Inquiry into the Constitution of the Blood and the Nutrition of 

 Muscular Tissue,' he states, ' that a mixture of colloid phosphoric 

 anhydride and potash can be prepared artificially by the dialysis of a 

 solution of chloride of potassium and phosphate of sodium, and that 

 the colloid mass thus obtained appears to retain the characters of the 

 neutral tribasic phosphate.' Dr. Marcet finds, moreover, * that blood 

 contains phosphoric anhydride and iron in a perfept colloid state, or 



further 



A 



