Lionel Smith Beale. lix 



which forms the nucleus and body of a cell, from the formed material 

 or intercellular structure without power of movement or growth or 

 reproduction. The one he called " germinal matter," the other, " formed 

 material." 



The title of a very early paper of his was " An Attempt to show that every 

 Living Structure consists of Matter which is the seat of Vital Actions, and 

 Matter in which Physical and Chemical Changes alone take place." 



The discovery and description by Schleiden and Schwann of the structure 

 and essentially identical properties of vegetable and animal cells led directly 

 on to the observations of Goodsir and Eedfern in this country, and to the 

 cellular pathology of Virchow. Beale's researches were in the same 

 direction, and established the distinction between cellular and intercellular 

 or connective tissues. 



It was, perhaps, unfortunate that the difference of view held by Beale 

 from that maintained by Huxley and many others in this country and 

 abroad was formulated as the question between "vitalism" and "materialism." 

 The truth does nob always lie between two extremes. If we invoke the 

 " vital principle " to explain every difficulty, we so far put a bar to the 

 advancement of science. But when we have traced all vital functions 

 to the primordial living ovum, and " Nature's self untwisted lies into its first 

 consistencies," the untwisted knot is as hard to be " explained " as ever. 

 As Du Bois-Keymond said, Ignoramus et Ignorabimus. 



In estimating Dr. Beale's work, we must remember the great importance of 

 a new method. The differential staining of tissues was the method he 

 introduced, and ultimately his views on the nucleus and the cell were based 

 on the reaction of animal and vegetable nuclei and protoplasm to carmine 

 and other discriminating agents. He left no school behind him, but the 

 influence he had on his contemporaries was important. His two works 

 on histology, " The Microscope in Clinical Medicine," published in 1854, and 

 " How to Work with the Microscope," published in 1857, covered to a large 

 extent the same ground. The former is a careful description not of the 

 instrument itself, but of needles, scalpels, scissors, methods of staining and 

 mounting sections, chemical reagents, and of drawing, measuring, injecting, 

 and staining. The second part is not a laboratory handbook, but a histo- 

 logical account of tissues and fluids of the body, both normal and morbid, 

 including the histology of tumours and of the vegetable and animal parasites 

 then known. It is well illustrated by drawings of the author's selection 

 and execution. 



Simultaneously with the successive editions of ' The Microscope in 

 Medicine ' appeared not less numerous issues of ' How to Work with the 

 Microscope.' It was dedicated to the writer's old friend, Mr. Sambrooke. The 

 first part is devoted to a description of the instrument and its accessories, and 

 is followed by a systematic account of the structures — animal, vegetable, and 

 mineral — revealed by the compound microscope. As in the earlier volume, not 

 only are the construction of the microscope and its accessories fully illustrated 



