191 
egg , — and consider that all these to the chemist, are, so to 
speak, alike, — we learn how very limited, after all, his powers 
of analysis are. 
The Cell 
65. A great deal has been said and written connecting the 
cell, in some mysterious manner, with the beginnings ot life. 
The cell-wall 9 however, is that which constitutes the cell; and 
this no more represents to us that which is going on inside, 
than the walls of a council- chamber [Celia) could report to us 
the important deliberations carried on within. We want, in 
either case, to understand that which is at work in the interior ; 
the destinies of nations depending on the latter ; in the former 
the formative idea working from the unseen to the seen, and 
sketching out the outlines of the creature that is to be pro- 
duced, to be afterwards elaborated in detail after its kind. 
The Egg . 
66. According to Balbiani (as quoted in a work from which 
I extract the following details), the egg of some creatures 
[Spirostomum, Stentor) is a mere cell, without any other sign of 
the characteristic nucleus-like vesicle, the so-called germinal 
vesicle, than a clear spot in the midst of the yolk granules. 
In some cases, as in the Amoeba , the parent of the egg is as 
simple in structure as the egg itself; and yet this most simply 
organized creature possesses will to determine its actions, and 
some sort of sense to guide its pursuit of food, as well as power 
to seize its prey and to assimilate this when apprehended ; so 
that connected with that simple cell which forms its egg may 
be wonders past our finding out. 
67. Even Dr. Huxley seems to give up the old notions of 
cell-formation, and in a beautiful description which I shall 
immediately give, shows that the commencement of formation 
may be in a “structureless” sac. # Dr. Lionel Beale assures us 
that germinal matter is not unfrequently entirely destitute of 
nuclei, t but these bodies sometimes make their appearance if 
the mass be more freely supplied with nutrient matter. So far 
from nuclei being formed first and the other elements ol the 
cell deposited around them, they make their appearance in 
the substance of a pre-existing mass of germinal matter, and 
become new centres of formation. 
* Appendix (D). 
f Protoplasm, p. 45. 
