Dr. Beale^ on the Germinal Matter of the Blood, 55 
face^ and sometimes these extend for some distance in the 
substance of the surrounding tissue; and they increase in 
number. 
I venture, then, to conclude that many of the clear fluids 
which have been considered as " exudations from the blood, 
really contain a multitude of extremely minute particles of 
living matter, which are intimately related to the white blood- 
corpuscles, and that these grow and become one source of 
the small granular cells or corpuscles which are so familiar to 
all who have studied morbid changes in the tissues as they 
occur in man and the higher animals. 
Some of these active living particles may be so small as to 
be invisible by a power magnifying 5000 diameters. I have 
seen such particles less than the Tiri-oTy'th of an inch in dia- 
meter, and have no reason whatever for assuming that these 
are really the smallest that exist. 
Let me, however, remark here that such minute granular 
cells or corpuscles are not alone produced in the manner 
described, but they may result, of course, from the multipli- 
cation of any form of germinal matter as well as that of which 
white blood- corpuscles are composed. 
The living or germinal matter may retain its vitality so that 
particles may be formed m one organism and be carried 
to another where they may grow, 
I have already shown that it is not the so-called cell as 
a whole which is concerned in vital phenomena, but only the 
germinal or living matter of the cell. This alone absorbs and 
changes nutrient material. This alone can be said to live. 
In many cases the most minute portion of this living or 
germinal matter may retain its vitality even when detached 
and removed from the body, and germinate if placed under 
favorable ^conditions. Living germinal matter, even in man 
and the higher animals, may retain its vitality so that it may 
be transferred from one body to another, and when particles 
are detached from a low form of germinal matter which grows 
very actively, they may even be kept for some time away from 
the body and yet retain their vitality. Perhaps the best 
example of this is met with in the propagation of purulent 
ophthalmia. In this and some other conditions there is reason 
to believe that a very minute portion of the living matter of 
a pus-corpuscle may be transferred from one organism to 
