457 



2nd. That this series of changes may, under normal con- 

 ditions, take place very slowly, so that, at the end of many 

 months, and probably of even much longer periods, we are still 

 enabled by the microscope to recognise and identify structures 

 of great delicacy, such as elementary muscular fibre, and that 

 this knowledge admits of important applications. 



3rd. That in this process of Histolysis, the first changes 

 consist in the softening, disunion, and separation from each 

 other of the morphic constituents of the tissues, each of which 

 is then subjected to a process of disintegration. 



4th. That granules and granular corpuscles appear at an 

 early period, arising probably from recombinations of the par- 

 ticles of the organic fluids. Animalcules appear at this stage. 



5th. That granules, corpuscles, vesicles, cells, and granu- 

 lar masses of various kinds and sizes, may form in fluids and 

 tissues undergoing Histolysis, in which no such elements exist 

 when in then- normal states. 



6th. That generally in the progress of Histolysis, struc- 

 tures very similar to those which are arranged under the first 

 group, or the a- plastic elements of Histogenesis, form at diffe- 

 rent stages, and that they exhibit the same modes of growth 

 and development, but, like them, are incapable of producing 

 higher forms. 



7th. That these morphic elements of Histolysis pass gra- 

 dually into lower forms, exhibiting occasional instances of 

 endogenous fissiparition, granular disintegration, and other 

 changes, and that the cellular and corpuscular elements, by 

 forming media for endosmose and imbibition, may aid in the 

 disintegration of contiguous structures. 



8th. That certain elements may pass directly into a state 

 of molecular disintegration. 



9th. That certain corpuscles of peculiar characters, and not 

 identical with any known normal elements, are occasionally 

 formed. 



10th. That a period arrives at which chemico-physical 



