THE CELL DOCTRINE. 85 



puscles (frontispiece, Fig. 10), all of which are com- 

 posed almost purely of germinal matter ; the very thin 

 periphery of formed material being scarcely appreci- 

 able or distinguishable from the diffraction band. 



In its endowments and 'properties, germinal matter 

 is acting, living, growing, and moving^ through some 

 inherent power of its own. It alone, as stated, is 

 capable of producing material like itself out of pabu- 

 lum, and of multiplying by division, or dropping off 

 of a portion of itself, which portion immediately 

 assumes an independent existence, and grows, main- 

 tains, and reproduces itself like the parent germinal 

 matter. It is also capable of being stained by an 

 ammouiacal solution of carmine, and the younger it 

 is, or more recently formed, the deeper is the stain it 

 assumes. And since the latest formed always ap- 

 pears in the centre of the mass, successive tints, or 

 zones of color, will often be produced in the staining 

 process, growing deeper from without inward, as 

 seen in Fig. 17 of the frontispiece. 



It has been stated that what is called nucleus by 

 Virchow and others, is included in germinal matter. 

 This is true, though the nucleijs is not always the 

 whole of the germinal matter. There may be other 

 older germinal matter beyond the nucleus, on its 

 way to conversion into formed material, but still 

 germinal matter, which assumes a tint with carmine, 

 but not so deep as the nucleus. Thus, the entire mass 

 of the pus-corpuscle (frontispiece. Fig. 10), except, 

 perhaps, its extreme periphery, is germinal matter, 

 yet there is within this another younger portion of 

 germinal matter, taking a deeper tint with carmine, 



