274 PROFESSOR LIONEL S. BEALE, P.R.C.P., F.R.S., ON THE 



this way, each minute bioplast receives its nutrient matter in 

 solution, and any products of action and disintegration of the 

 bioplasm would be dissolved and slowly removed, and at the 

 same time, by the constant movement of fluid in the inter- 

 stices, the tissue by this slow but steady movement of fluid 

 would be preserved, and its healthy condition ensured. This cir- 

 culation of fluid, I have spoken of as the "interstitial circulation'* 

 because the fluid is constantly moving in the interstices of the 

 tissue. It is a most important system, and indeed exists in 

 organisms not provided with proper organs of circulation, as 

 well as those possessing a special circulating fluid — the blood — 

 which is driven through the vessels by a special pulsating heart, 

 or propelling organ. 



Let me now ask your attention to an argument of a different 

 kind, which seems to me equally conclusive against placing 

 physical and vital phenomena in the same category — the 

 maintenance of the uniform internal temperature of the body of 

 man and the higher animals, notwithstanding the constant 

 changes in the outside temperature. Many intelligent persons 

 are not aware of this remarkable fact, and of its very great 

 importance to the well-being of the organism, and the serious 

 consequences which may result, if the internal temperature 

 rise only a few degrees above the normal — a change which is 

 not unfrequently followed by serious disease, and in too many 

 instances leads to an early death. By this fact alone the 

 reason of thoughtful persons ought to be convinced, that the 

 physical and chemical changes in man and the higher animals, 

 cannot in any way be compared with those in the physical and 

 chemical laboratory. Only think of the structures concerned, 

 and especially of the arrangement and actions of the nerve and 

 vascular systems engaged in the restoration of the body to its 

 normal condition, after it has been subjected for a few weeks to 

 an internal temperature of but three or four degrees above the 

 normal. Think also of the wonderful heat-regulating powers 

 of the wren, which maintains its normal temperature, probably 

 several degrees above 100, during the coldest weather. 

 Consider its small size, and think also of the physiology of the 

 common little bat of our climate, and study tfie finest nerve 

 fibres distributed to its vessels, just beneath the epithelial 

 layer of the membraneous part of its wing, one of the most 

 wonderful and beautiful examples of the finest nerve distribu- 

 tion in nature (see Bioplasm, an Introduction to the Study of 

 FInjdoloqy and Medicine. J. and A. Churchill, pp. 280 to 336, 

 Plates XV to XX). 



