I '^ 5 -] Transportation of Nutriment. 331 
to single points in particular need of a supply. This ar- 
langement appears realised on a pathologically enlarged 
scale in the emigration of the colourless blood-corpuscles in 
cases of inflammation. y 
. cellular combination of nutritive matter explains very 
s^ply the. formation of receptacles for reserve-matters in 
which, during a time of superfluity, the nutriment taken up 
is stored in an organised form, so as to be at the disposal of 
the organism in times of need without the necessity of pre- 
vious important chemical transformations. 
Cellular transportation” is exceedingly important for 
V e conveyance of matters insoluble in the liquid of the 
blood, and therefore incapable of diffusion. The difflcultv 
of conceiving the entrance of such substances into the 
tissues appears at once annulled if we assume that it is 
effected through the mediation of transportable cells. This 
comes into play for the transfer of medicines and poisons 
pei haps even more than under normal conditions. 
The greatest advantage, however, of “ cellular transporta- 
tion is that it prevents a waste of the nutritive material 
which has been secured for the organism. We know that 
many very important nutrients (sugar, peptone, &c.), if they 
aie introduced diredtly into the blood, even in small quan- 
tities, they are expelled through the secreting organs, whilst 
on the reception of much larger quantities of the same sub- 
stances by way of the intestine, under physiological condi- 
tions, nothing similar is observed. This different result 
appears scarcely conceivable if we assume that nutriment is 
conveyed to the organs in the state of solution ; but if we 
suppose a cellular combination it seems not merely intelli- 
gible, but a matter of course. 
As legai ds the manner in which the nutrient matters in 
cellular combination aie distributed at the places where they 
are needed, Hofmeister points out that already many cir- 
cumstances are known which indicate that the amoeboid 
movements of the cells are affedted bv various conditions 
and possibly by the absence of those matters of which they 
contain an excess, Heie fuither experiments and observa- 
tions are requisite. The “ Naturforscher ” refers here to the 
experiments of Pfeiffer in which the direction of the move- 
ments of spores was effected by the chemical character of 
the surrounding medium. 
Finally, Hofmeister intimates that the conveyance of 
nutriment may be both cellular and extra-cellular. Even in 
cellular transportation processes of difference between cell 
and cell may not be wanting, and extra-cellular transportation 
2 A 2 
