Dr. BealEj on the Red Blood-corpuscle, 
43 
This formed material at length undergoes disintegration, and 
is resolved into other chemical substances. So long as it 
circulates in the current, it retains its semifluid character; but 
if it becomes stationary and slightly concentrated, it tends to 
assume the crystalline form, and in some cases this change 
occurs within a very short time after the blood has ceased to 
move. 
If these conclusions be justified by the facts, the red 
material is not living, but results from changes occurring in 
colourless living matter, just as cuticle, or tendon, or cartilage 
or the formed material of the liver-cell, results from changes 
occurring in the germinal matter of each of these cells. 
The colourless corpuscles, and those small corpuscles which 
are gradually undergoing conversion into red blood-corpuscles, 
are living, but the old red blood-corpuscles consist of inani- 
mate matter. They are no more living than cuticle or the 
hard, horny substance of nail or hair is living. The red 
colouring matter is composed of formed material, which cannot 
produce matter like itself, and which does not possess vital 
powers. In another communication I propose to discuss the 
nature of the vertebrate colourless corpuscle, which consists 
almost entirely of matter in an active, living state. Matter of 
this kind is present in every living, growing tissue, in every 
single living cell, and^ indeed, in everything that has life. 
