MEMOIRS.

BIOPLASM, and its DEGRADATION ; with OBSERVATIONS onthe ORIGIN of CONTAGIOUS DISEASE. By LIONEL S.BEALE, M.B., F.R.S., Fellow of the Royal College ofPhysicians ; Physician to King's College Hospital. WithPlates XI , XII , XI I I , XIV.

HITHERTO I have employed the simple term germinal orliving matter, to denote that matter which takes part in theformation of all living beings and their tissues and organs ;but the term is lengthy, and in some respects perhapsawkward and inconvenient. It cannot be used alone whenspeaking of a single particle, nor can it be employed adjec-tively. The word " protoplasm " has been much used forsome years past, but the vagueness attached to it renders itunfitted for employment here. I require a word to denoteliving, forming, growing, self-producing matter, as distinguishedfrom matter in every other state or condition whatever. Now" protoplasm " has been applied, both in this country and inGermany, to lifeless matter as well as to living matter, toformed matter and tissue as well as to the formative matter.And more recently Prof. Huxley and others have added tothe confusion by giving it a still wider signification—sovery wide, indeed, that almost anything that ever formedpart of an organism may, according to their view, bedenominated protoplasm. Dead matter and living matter,and roast mutton, boiled as well as unboiled white of egg,and a number of other things, moist and dry, having struc-ture and structureless, alive and dead, are said to be proto-plasm, so that the word ceases to be distinctive of matter inany particular state. It becomes, in fact, useless.

The name I propose to give to the living, or germinal self-increasing matter of living beings, and to restrict to this, isBioplasm (j3(oc, life; TrXao/na, plasma). Now that the wordBiology has come into common use, it seems desirable toemploy the same root in designating the matter which it isthe main purpose of biology to investigate. Bioplasm involves

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no theory as regards the nature or the origin of the matter.It simply distinguishes it as living. A living white blood-corpuscle is a mass of bioplasm, or it might be termed abioplast. A veiy minute living particle is a bioplast, and wemay speak of living matter as bioplasmic substance. A cellof epithelium consists of bioplasm, or bioplasmic matter, sur-rounded by formed non-living matter, which was howeveronce in the bioplasmic state. In the same way a germ of afungus, as the yeast particle, consists of the bioplasm with anenvelope of formed material, which last has resulted fromchanges occurring when the particles upon the surface ofthe bioplasm died. The bioplasm of the microscopic fungusor other organism may give off diverticula which may becomefree independent bioplasts. Each minute bioplast may grow,and in the same way give rise to multitudes of otherbioplasts.

PROGRESSIVE CHANGE IN POWEB OF THE BIOPLASM.

Those marvellous progressive changes which occur duringthe development of the embryo, while the structures whichcharacterise the organism are being evolved, are still butvery imperfectly understood. We know, indeed, that all thecomplex tissues and organs of man and the higher animalsare dependent for their production upon changes occur-ring in a minute mass of perfectly colourless living matter,in which no indications of form or structure can be discerned,but how these changes are brought about we have not yetbeen able to ascertain; nor is it conveying much informationto the student if the teacher informs hiin that the perfectorganism, with all its marvellous apparatus, existed "poten-tially " in the little colourless living embryonic particle;since it is impossible for anyone to distinguish the particlewhich is to develop a highly elaborate mechanism from thatwhich is to produce a simple amoeba as its highest develop-mental product. Hence, to say the structures evolved" existed " in the original mass of living matter is not true,and to qualify the assertion by the term "potentially" cannotmake it more correct. All we know is that such and suchstructures will result, but we know this from previous expe-rience, not from reasoning.

For the characters and composition of the living matterdo not enable us to premise anything whatever concerningits formative properties. In the formation of man and thehigher vertebrata the primary mass of bioplasm or livingmatter absorbs nutriment, and grows, and then divides and

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subdivides into numerous masses which are arranged in adefinite manner, but what determines this is not known.From each of these in pre-ordained order, and with perfectregularity, more are produced, no doubt, according to " laws,"but laws which we know nothing about, except that theyare not physical. As this process of division goes on theresulting masses produce various substances, some havingwonderful structure and properties. But the power of eachseries to produce these peculiar materials, which did notexist before and which cannot be extracted from the foodsupplied, differs from that of the series which preceded it, andso on until the complex structural basis of the organism is asit were laid down. There are masses of bioplasm to formnerve, others to produce muscle, others glands, and so on,all of which have been derived from one common mass ; butthe bioplasm destined to take part in the development of agland will under no circumstances produce muscle or nerve.And yet with all this marvellous difference in power, whichseems to be somehow acquired as development advances,there is, as far as is known, no difference in matter. Thenerve- or muscle-producing bioplasm is, as far as can beascertained, the exact counterpart of the gland or bone,forming bioplasm, and why one produces one tissue andthe other a very different tissue cannot be explained.

All these different forms of bioplasm have descended fromone, which may be regarded as the parental mass, but in regu-lar definite and prearranged order; so that if from any cir-cumstance the bioplasm which is to form a gland or otherorgan, or a member, is not produced, and does not occupyits proper place at the right period of developmental pro-gress, that gland, organ, or member will be wanting in thisparticular organism. The manifestation of power or propertyto form special parts with special functions occurs inregular order, progressively in one direction only as thegerm advances towards the particular perfect form it is toattain. The power once lost can never be regained, althoughlife may continue to be manifested nevertheless, and perhapsmore actively than before.—The particles of bioplasm whichwere to take part in the development say of the brain, donot receive at the proper period a supply of nourishment ofthe right kind or in the proper proportion. A well-developed healthy brain cannot in that case be formed. Theparticles may waste and die; or they may grow for a timeand then cease to progress further; or they may grow, andlive, and multiply, and form a great mass of matter, whichhowever will never produce a brain or an organ capable of

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performing the functions which the brain was designed todischarge. They may multiply fast, and take up morenourishment than the brain cells, had they been formed,would have appropriated, but the brain with its marvellouslycomplex intricate structure which involves gradually pro-gressive changes, steadily proceeding during a length of

"time, will never be produced; and under no circumstancesconceivable could any of these masses, or any of theirdescendants, develop one perfect brain cell. If progresstowards the mature state be stopped at any point, the perfectstate of development can never be reached, and the organismif developed must be imperfect. The development of othercomplex organs may have proceeded with perfect regularity,but the organism must ever remain incomplete in structure,and incapable of performing all the functions it might havedischarged.

But although developmental power may be lost for ever,power of a different kind may be acquired pari passu duringthe rapid multiplication of bioplasm. Progressive advancein the capacity to form lasting structures and elaborate organsis characterised by the comparatively slow but regular andorderly growth and multiplication of bioplasm. Rapid mul-tiplication of the bioplasm, on the other hand, involvesdegradation in formative power, which is at length entirelylost, never to be reacquired.

Degradation in power is commonly associated withincreased rate of growth, increased faculty of resisting adverseconditions, and, in some caseSj such is the vitality of theliving matter that it takes up the nourishment which shouldbe appropriated by healthy parts, and these are at lengthstarved and deteriorate or are completed destroyed. Theactively living degraded bioplasm may be capable of retain-ing its vitality although removed altogether and for sometime from the living body, and, remarkable as it seems, it maygrow and at length destroy other living organisms to whichit gains access.

The poisonous " virus " of many contagious diseases is,I shall endeavour to show, living matter or bioplasm, whichhas been derived by direct descent from the bioplasm of ahealthy organism, and I propose in this paper to give asketch of some of the most important facts which have ledme to adopt this view. The inquiry is of great interest, notonly because it affects the question of the nature of thematerial concerned in the propagation of contagious diseases,but it will be found to bear upon matters of the greatestpractical importance, such as the means of preventing the

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spread of contagious diseases, and of treating such disorders.In the first place I shall refer to the mode of multiplicationof the bioplasm of man in health, and then endeavour to traceits degradation until a form of bioplasm destructive of healthy-life and capable of infinite multiplication results.

BIOPLASM OF ANIMALS AND MAN IN HEALTH.

BIOPLASM OF AMOEBA.

Among the lower, simplest living forms known aresome very simple organisms consisting apparently oftransparent structureless semifluid material. Seldom asmuch as the , 0'00 of an inch in diameter, they varymuch in size down to the most extreme minuteness andtenuity capable of being seen under the highest poweryet made, equalling about 5000 diameters. These masses,apparently composed almost entirely of living matter, canmove in any part, and in any direction. Portions of the

• semifluid material may protrude in advance of the rest of themass, and coming in contact with protrusions from otherparts, join these, and thus a ring or a series of rings mayresult. The protrusion may be withdrawn and the wholeassume .the appearance of a perfectly smooth globular mass.Such nalced masses of bioplasm or living germinal matter mayapply themselves to foreign bodies, and if these are small, com-pletely invest them, so that they are at length seen in theinterior of the mass embedded in its very substance. It is iuthis way that these simple forms of life are capable of effect-ing the solution of certain substances, and afterwards appro-priating them. They increase in number in a very simplemanner. If one of the protrusions above referred to bedetached, artificially or by accident, a new and independentorganism results. For never after a portion has completelyseparated does it again join, and form a part of the parentmass. So long as a pedicle remains between the two, thoughit be so thin as to be only just visible, the diverticulum maybe withdrawn, and the whole form one single spherical massof living, growing, moving matter. But if the communica-tion be once completely severed two separate beings result,and these can never be incorporated so as to form but one.

Any one can study for himself the most important of thehighly interesting phenomena which have been observed inthese wonderful and simple organisms. Amoebse can be readilyobtained from water which has been left for a few days in awarm light room. Their growth can be watched from day today, and their movements can be seen without difficulty.With the aid of high powers it will be found that the moving

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material is clear, transparent, and as far as we are able to dis-cover, destitute of structure. It appears like matter ofsyrupy consistence which moves in all directions. No onehas been able to offer anything like an explanation of thesemovements which every one tan see. Authorities haveexpressed themselves as if they had been able to give a fulland satisfactory explanation of the phenomenon, but there isnothing in their statements to justify the confidence whichthey seem to repose in the correctness of their own views. Thecause of these movements is unknown, if not unknowable.

BIOPLASM OF MAN.

But it must not be supposed that this wonderful capacityfor movement and the power of taking up materials in themedium which surrounds them and converting these into thematter of their own bodies is a peculiarity of these verysimple forms of existence. The movements are even now .called amoeboid, as if they were a peculiar characteristic ofamoebse, but so far from this being so, these phenomena arecharacteristic of the whole living world. They are, however,strictly confined to living beings, and nothing like them hasbeen shown to occur in non-living matter. In man and thehigher animals it is not always possible to see the movementsof the bioplasm, for a very slight change in the circumstancesunder which life is carried on may cause its death; but insome cases, and these not a few, they may be seen in theliving matter taken from man's organism, both in health andalso in the diseased state.

The Living Matter or Bioplasm of Mucus.—If a littlemucus which collects commonly enough upon the soft mucousmembrane of the air passages be examined upon a warmglass slide, with the aid of a power magnifying 700 diameters,or upwards, little oval masses of germinal matter not unlikeamoebae will be seen in great numbers embedded in theviscid transparent material which gives to the mucus itsproperties, and which has been formed by the particles of thebioplasm.

By attentive examination movements will be observed inmany of these masses, not unlike those above described inthe case of the amoebae. If the distribution of nutriment tothe mucus be increased, the bioplasts enlarge, and divideand subdivide until vast numbers result. In some cases theentire mass appears to consist of the form of bioplasts ordi-narily termed pus corpuscles, while the proportion of formedmaterial which was abundant in ordinary mucus is exceed-

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ingly small. The bioplasm has multiplied so fast'that therehas not been time for the production even of the soft mucus.

Vital movements resembling those which have been de-scribed in the white or colourless blood corpuscles may be seen,but not so easily, in the bioplasm of young epithelial cells inthat of cartilage, the cornea, connective tissue and other tex-tures, and there can be no doubt whatever that all bioplasmpossesses the power of movement, and that by this is to beexplained the positions which the several masses respectivelyoccupy in all the different tissues which they form, and inthe preservation and maintenance of which, in a state ofintegrity, they play so highly important a part as long aslife lasts.

Embryonic Bioplasm.—The growth and multiplication ofbioplasm, at an early period of development may be studiedin an embryo, and many highly important observations maybe made if the tissues of the chrysalis of the common blow-fly be submitted to examination, especially when they havebeen successfully stained by the carmine fluid. A mass offormless bioplasm invariably represents the earliest stage ofdevelopment of every tissue and organ. The bioplasm,which is concerned in the formation of the special tissues,emanates from this, and in many cases a sort of temporarystructure is formed in the first instance in which the de-velopment of the higher tissue afterwards takes place. Ifone of the growing extremities of a fcetal tuft of the humanplacenta be examined, it will be found that the material whichadvances first, which grows away as it were from the tissuewhich is already formed, is a mass of bioplasm, which isdividing and subdividing into smaller portions, as repre-sented in fig. 1, Plate XI. The loop of vessels graduallyincreases in the walce of this little collection of livingmatter which continues to move onwards as long as theorgan continues to grow. These little collections of bio-plasm bifurcate, and thus form branches into which vas-cular loops afterwards proceed. As in every other instancethe first changes are effected by bioplasm, and upon thisevery kind of growth and development are entirely de-pendent.

White Blood Corpuscles, or Blood Bioplasts.—If a drop ofblood be obtained from the finger by pricking it with aneedle, allowed to fall upon a glass slide slightly warmed,covered with thin glass, carefully pressed and examinedunder a power of TOO diameters or upwards, here and therea colourless slightly granular, apparently spherical body willbe seen amongst multitudes of the well-known red blood-

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corpuscles. These are the so-called white or colourlessblood-corpuscles. They consist of living bioplasm or germinalmatter, and exhibit movements like those referred to in theamoeba and in the mucus corpuscle. The movements con-tinue for some time after the blood has been withdrawnfrom the body. The colourless as well as the red blood-corpuscles vary much in size, although they are often repre-sented as if they were of uniform diameter. These bioplastsmultiply by giving off little diverticula, which becomedetached, and then grow into complete corpuscles. In theblood there are, besides the white blood-corpuscles, multitudesof minute masses of living matter, probably composed of thesame material as the white blood-corpuscles. These weredescribed and figured by me in 1863, and I showed thatwhen the capillary walls became stretched by distension theywould escape through little longitudinal rents or fissuresinto the spaces external to the vessels, where, being freelysupplied with nutrient matter, they grew and multiplied,giving rise to the numerous corpuscles seen in this situationin inflammation. These minute particles are indeed themost important constituents of inflammatory exudation, andare the agents by which the important changes occurring inthe exudation are effected.

Whenever the circulation is carried on slowly in any partof the body the colourless corpuscles grow and multiply, andat an early period of development, before the heart and lungsare fully formed, the only corpuscles are these white or colour-less blood-corpuscles. This important fact maybe demonstratedby examining the blood in any of the small vessels of theembryo of a vertebrate animal. A very striking and beautifulexample is represented in fig. 3, Plate XII , from the ovumof the turtle. The capillaries are seen to be filled withliving growing blood bioplasts (white blood-corpuscles)every one of which was coloured by carmine fluid, and canbe very distinctly seen in the specimen. Only here andthere could an ordinary red blood-corpuscle be discovered.

In fig. 4, Plate XII I , I have given a drawing of part of asmall vein, with a few capillaries opening into it, from abeautiful specimen of the pia mater, covering the hemispheresof the brain of a human embryo at the fifth month of intra-uterine life, to illustrate the same fact. The little veins werequite filled with blood bioplasts, very few of which had asyet become developed into red blood-corpuscles. In thecapillaries represented in this drawing will be seen manyvery minute bioplasts which have been detached from largerones and are growing. The bioplasts seen in the capillary

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interspaces are those which take part in the development ofthe other textures of which the pia mater is constituted.

In animals which hybernate, or which have been keptinactive in confinement for some time, and in man, undersimilar circumstances, many of the red hlood-corpuscles inthe blood-vessels are absorbed, just as they are from a clotformed in any of the smaller vessels, and in some instancesfrom a clot situated external to the vessels, and the livingbioplasts (white blood-corpuscles) grow and multiply at theirexpense. After a time such is the increase of the latter thatthe capillaries in many tissues are almost entirely occupiedby them. This fact is illustrated by fig. 5, Plate XIII , whichrepresents very small capillary vessels of the mesentery ofthe common frog in winter. The vessel is almost chokedup with white blood-corpuscles, only one or two red onesremaining in the specimen from which the drawing wastaken. Another illustration of this fact is given in fig. 2,Plate XI , which represents some of the capillaries from thebladder of a half-starved frog. The capillaries have muchwasted, and contain no red blood-corpuscles whatever, theircavity being entirely occupied with fluid liquor sanguinisand masses of bioplasm, differing much in size, the largestparticles having the ordinary dimensions of the white blood-corpuscles, while the smallest are so minute that they cannotbe demonstrated under a power magnifying much less than1000 diameters. It is remarkable that in this case the whiteblood-corpuscles are still growing and multiplying, and are,indeed, probably the active agents in the absorption of thetissues. In this specimen, from the most beautiful and deli-cate of all the tissues of the frog, may also be seen the veryfine pale nerve-fibres, which I demonstrated some years ago.A fine bundle is seen at a, from which point it may be readilyfollowed, as it divides into finer branches, ramifications ofwhich are seen in every part of the drawing. The bundlesof unstriped muscular fibres are marked b, while the bioplasmmasses of the connective tissue corpuscles are representedhere and there in the intervals.

So far I have endeavoured to show that the masses ofgerminal matter or bioplasm which are to be found in all partsof the tissues and organs of man and the higher animals at everyperiod of life, and suspended in. the nutrient fluids, notwith- *standing such remarkable differences in power, exhibit thesame general characters as those manifested by the livingmatter of the lowest animals and plants. In all cases it is the-bioplasm only which lives and grows. Moreoverj attentionhas been especially directed to the fact that the rate of growth

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of the bioplasm varies according to the scarcity or abundanceof the nutrient material, and to the facility of its access. Thebioplasts (white blood-corpuscles) of the blood increase innumber, when the fluid in which they are suspended movesslowly as at an early period -of life before the propellingapparatus is fully developed, or at any period of life whenthe circulation is retarded from any cause whatever. Thisremarkable growth and multiplication of the blood bioplastsseems to be determined by the altered condition under whichlife is carried on without necessarily any derangement of thehealth. The fact of the increase of the white blood-corpusclesin apparently opposite conditions of the system is thus veryeasily explained. A hybernating animal cannot be said tobe suffering from disease, but nevertheless the blood in hiscapillary vessels contains a vastly increased number ofbioplasts, and could hardly be distinguished from the bloodstagnating in consequence of something impeding the circu-lation—a state of things which would be rightly regarded asdisease. In this part of the inquiry we seem to be on the veryconfines of disease; in a sort of border land where thehealthy process so gradually and imperceptibly shades intothe morbid process that it would not be possible to draw adistinction in words, nor would the appearances which maybe demonstrated to the eye enable us to define with greaterexactness the special condition. In fact, up to this pointthere is no real difference. The state of things I havedescribed if it continues, and if it leads to other changes,is disease. If, on the other hand, the circulation soonreturns to its normal rate, the increased numbers of whiteblood-corpuscles soon pass into the circulation and are lostin the mass of the blood where they undergo further changes,and there is no further evidence of even a temporary dis-turbance of the healthy condition than is afforded by someslight disturbance of the nerves, giving rise, perhaps, inthe case of man and the higher animals to slight pain, whichsoon passes off, and often escapes notice altogether.

FROM HEALTH TO DISEASE.

I HAVE endeavoured to shoAv that the only material in theorganisms of living beings capable of growth and multiplica-

1 tion is that which has been termed bioplasm, germinal, orliving matter. In fully formed tissues the proportion of thisis very small. Still, all active change depends upon thisliving matter^ however little there may be. If there be none,the tissue is as incapable of undergoing active changes as ifit did not form a part of the body. The smallest particle of

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bioplasm possesses active powers, and if supplied with properpabulum, soon grows. Each little bioplast grows, that is,increases, by taking up material differing entirely from it incomposition, properties, and powers, and converts certainelements of this into matter identical with that of which itconsists. After the bioplasm-particle has reached a certainsize, division occurs. Instead of growing larger and larger,and forming a continuous mass of enormous size, as some havefancifully supposed to exist at the bottom of the ocean, por-tions are from time to time detached and separate themselves,moving away from the parent mass. Each of these littlegerms has properties in many respects like those of the parentmass. It lives and grows, attains a certain size, and mayproduce its kind in the same way.

Now, the whole human organism at a very early period ofits development consists entirely of little masses of livingor germinal matter like those above referred to. Each ofthese grows and divides and subdivides, so that multitudesat length result from the division of a few: and these areall the descendants of the first primitive germinal mass,which was derived from pre-existing germinal matter. Aftera time some of these cease to multiply, though they stilllive and take up food. The living matter of which they arecomposed undergoes change. It dies under certain condi-tions, and tissue results. In this way muscle, and nerve,and fibrous tissue, and bone, and hair, and horn, and nail,and all the other tissues, are formed. In the adult, however,there remain some masses of germinal matter which go ongrowing and dividing just as all of them grew and multipliedin the embryo. Among these are the white or colourlessblood-corpuscles, which possess formative power even in oldage in greater degree than any other kind of bioplasm in theadult. At the deep aspect of the cuticle, and below the fully-formed epithelium of mucous membranes and some glandularorgans, are masses of germinal matter, which are dividingand subdividing in the same way throughout life. These, inthe ordinary course, move towards the surface, and as theymove, each, in the case of the cuticle, gradually forms uponits surface the hard cuticular matter (cell-wall) to which theproperties of the epidermis are due.

It has been already said that the bioplastic masses of dif-ferent organisms, and those in different parts of the sameorganism, possess very different endowments. From onekind of bioplasm is formed muscle, from another nerve, fromanother fat, and so forth, and yet all these kinds have directlydescended from one. They could not be distinguished from

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one another, nor from their primary mass. Neither could oneof these kinds of bioplasm in the adult develop a mass capableof producing the rest. Although no one could distinguishone particle from the other, each will produce its kind, andthat alone. It would be as unreasonable to expect au amoebato result from a pus-corpuscle, or from a yeast particle, orto suppose that by any alteration in food or management acabbage would spring from a mustard seed, or the modernwhite mouse from the descendant of an ancestral white rabbit,as it would be to suppose that muscle, nerve, brain, gland,or other special tissue might be produced indiscriminatelyby any mass of bioplasm of the adult, supposing that theconditions under Avhich it lived were changed to any pos-sible extent. Its powers, which are within, and upon whichthe capacity to develop depends, cannot be thus changed byany mere change in external circumstances.

The Production of Pus.—But it is very remarkable thatthe many kinds of germinal matter of the organism ofman and the higher animals, though differing so much inpower or property that one produces nerve, another muscle,a third bone, a fourth fat, and so on, will each under certainconditions give rise to a common form of germinal matteror bioplasm differing in properties and powers from themall. This is the form of bioplasm known as pus, whichmay go on multiplying for any length of time, giving riseto successive generations of pus bioplasts, which exhibit re-markable vital properties, although they cannot form tissue,nor produce tissue-forming bioplasts of any kind whatever.

It is evident from this that the power is manifested in onedirection only—onwards. Embryonic living matter orbioplasm gives rise to several different kinds, not one ofwhich can produce matter with the endowments of that whichexisted immediately before it, and from which it sprang.And yet every kind of germinal matter exhibits powers ofinfinite growth.1

When bioplasm or germinal matter lives very much fasterthan in health, in consequence of being supplied with anundue proportion of nutrient matter, a morbid bioplasm

1 While, however, the process of division is proceeding, as has been des-cribed, in some cases a small portion of the germinal matter does notundergo division into masses of the next series, but retains its primitivejDowers. This remains in an embryonic condition after the tissue lias beenformed, and thus the development of new tissue, even in advanced life, is, insome cases, not only possible, but actually occurs. Many cancers and othermorbid growths probably originate in these masses of embryo bioplasmwinch remain for a long time iu a quiescent state embedded in some of thefnlly-formed textures of the adult.

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results ; and if the process continues for a short time, changesfamiliar to those conversant with pathological alterationsoccur upon a large scale.

In discussing questions of this kind, involving such minutedetails, we must, however, be most careful to avoid too hastygeneralization, and proceed by very slow steps; and this ismore particularly necessary if it so happens that our inferencesin some measure accord with the views of speculative andexcited persons, who are always fancying that we are on theeve of some grand discovery which is to revolutionise thought.Many might perhaps infer from the arguments advanced, thatI incline to the view that the lowest living forms are capableof being produced by the retrograde development of higherforms, and that bioplasm even very high in the scale oforganization, may produce forms of bioplasm approximatingmore and more closely to the lowest constant forms of lifewith which we are acquainted. A doctrine asserting thatby continual retrogression through ages the descendants ofthe highest forms would gradually deteriorate until theironly remaining representatives were monads, would not bevery easily disproved, and might be supported by manyingenious arguments. It is a view that doubtless wouldrecommend itself to some minds in the present day.

On the other hand, it is quite conceivable that cells andorganisms may retrograde and produce various modifiedforms, without giving rise to any of those particular formscharacteristic of the lower organisms with which we are ac-quainted. Nay, cells of different organisms might give riseto many different retrograde forms, and every one of these bevery different from one another. It is obviously possiblethat there should be infinite advance and infinite retrogressionin multitudes of parallel lines, as it were, without theresulting forms of any one line becoming identical with thoseof another. Just as it is possible to conceive infinite advancein the features of the dog, without any resemblance what-ever to the'human face resulting, and retrogression and dete-rioration of the latter proceeding to any degree, and con-tinuing for any length of time without the development ofthe simian type of countenance.

Sufficient allowance is not made by many thinkers forthe infinity of difference in structure and variety of changepossible in living forms, without the production of two formsexactly alike, or any indication of the merging of one set offorms into another. It must not be forgotten for an instant thatfrom such a marvellous storehouse of facts as has been placedat our disposal in nature, we may Avith very little ingenuity

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pick out series of facts in favour of many different generalhypotheses ; and however conflicting these may be with oneanother, it may not be possible to disprove any one of themin the present state of knowledge. The fact that masses ofgerminal matter, derived by direct descent from cells of oneof the lower animals, may grow and multiply in man'sorganism, and vice versa, might be adduced as an argumentin favour of the original common parentage, countless agesback, of the predecessors of both; but there are, it needscarcely be said, facts and arguments tending to a differentconclusion, and these must not be lost sight of in endeavour-ing to arrive at the truth.

I propose now to draw attention to the facts I have beenable to observe in connection with the deterioration in powerof bioplasm during that increased multiplication whichresults from the very free supply of pabulum.

Bioplasm of Epithelium.—When the germinal matter of theepithelial cells of certain mucous membranes, or that of othertissues of the body, or the germinal matter of the white blood-corpuscles, lives faster than in health, in consequence ofbeing supplied Avith an undue proportion of nutrient material,it grows and multiplies to an enormous extent; so that onemass may perhaps be the parent of 500, in the time which, ina perfectly healthy state, would be occupied in the productionof two or three cells. And in some ordinarily very slowly-growing tissues, tlie germinal matter may in disease divide

and subdivide very quickly, although in the healthy state itwould undergo scarcely any appreciable change in the course}perhaps, of several weeks or months. The increased rate ofaccess of nutrient material to the living matter is the neces-sary condition of its increase. The living matter always tendsto increase, but in the normal state of things it is only per-mitted to do so at a certain regular rate, which is determinedby the even distribution and somewhat limited access of thenutrient material.

In certain cases in which an increased proportion of nutrientmaterial is distributed to the epithelium of the mucous mem-brane,—as, for example, to that of the fauces,—the youngepithelial cells grow and multiply so rapidly that the superficiallayer of older and hardened structure becomes detached, andthe free surface is formed of a thick layer of soft, spongy,epithelial elements, with, in many instances, but faint indica-tions of division into individual epithelial particles. In fact,under the circumstances alluded to, growth is taking placetoo rapidly for the formation of the characteristic epithelial

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texture, though the changes are not so rapid as to lead tothe production of actual pus. The spongy texture producedmay be regarded as occupying the position midway betweenhealthy epithelial tissue and the pathological germinal matteror pus. I have observed these facts in the young rapidly-growing, but as yet imperfectly-formed epithelial particles inspecimens taken from the surface of the pharynx in a case ofslight sore-throat coming on in a person enjoying ordinarilygood health. The mode in which the masses divide and sub-divide could be well seen, and the thick plastic character of thematter of which they are composed has been well given indrawings. The greater part of the material consists of livingmatter or bioplasm, some of which has probably undergoneconversion into soft-formed material, which, however, still re-mains mingled with it. From any part of one of these massesdiverticula might have been formed, and thus new bioplasts,each capable of undergoing conversion into an epithelial cell,result. Many epithelial formations exhibit much the samechanges in disease, and the gradual transition from the healthyto the morbid state is beautifully indicated. Nay, we mayalmost conceive that it is by unremitting continuance of thisvery process, combined with irregularity in the rate of multi-plication of contiguous particles, that the remarkable patho-logical formation, epithelial cancer, results.

If, then, the bioplasts of a tissue receive an unusuallyabundant supply of nutrient matter, they grow and multiplyjust like the amoeba, the white blood-corpuscle, the mucus-corpuscle, and the pus-corpuscle, and they may give origin topus. Masses of bioplasm which under ordinary circum-stances would form cuticle, grow and live very fast, and losetheir cuticle-forming property. The changes are well shownin fig. 6, Plate XIV, to the left of which, at a b c d, are repre-sented separate cells, the bioplasm of which is growing anddividing and subdividing. The cells multiply faster than anycuticle cells, and the numerous descendants at last producedare pus corpuscles. From these pus bioplasts diverticulaproceed, and particles are from time to time detached whichare extremely minute, and by their movements may passthrough very narrow chinks in tissues, and thus spread fromthe point where they were developed: not only so, but sominute are these particles of pus bioplasm, that, like the littlegerms detached from the yeast cells and other microscopicfungi, the amoeba germ, and many others, the atmosphere willsupport them; they may thus be wafted long distances from thespot where they were produced. If exposed to great heat orcold, or to the action of certain gases or vapours, they will be

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killed, but in warm, moist air they will live; and if they fall ina favorable place, that is, where there is proper food for them,they will grow and multiply a thousandfold. But the yeastwill not produce amoeba, or the latter pus. The pabulumsuitable for the first would kill the last.

Multiplication of White Blood-corpuscles in Disease.—Next,then, let us consider in what way the multiplication of thebioplasts (masses of germinal matter) of the blood in the capil-lary vessels in disease differs from the process which we haveseen occurs in the vessels at an early period of development,and during the winter sleep at all periods of life in hybernat-ing animals, and in man under physiological conditions whichcause the blood to circulate very slowly, or to stagnate for atime in the smaller vessels of the body. As will be inferred fromthe remarks made in page 218,1 do not think that any distinctline of demarcation can be drawn, between the physiologicaland the pathological change. In inflammation, the phenomenaabove referred to proceed a stage further, which is unquestion-ably pathological. But even if this stage be reached, it by nomeans follows that the texture involved should not regainits normal condition and the previous healthy state be per-fectly restored. On the other hand, it is quite certain thatif the state of things now to be described proceeds to anygreat extent, destruction of tissue is inevitable and returnto the original condition impossible. Repair may follow theinjury, but this repair involves serious alteration in structure,with corresponding deterioration in action, -without capacityfor improvement and without the possibility, under any cir-cumstances, of return to the former state.

When the circulation through the capillary vessels is im-peded in cases of disease, the blood bioplasts (white blood-corpuscles) multiply, and the capillaries often appear to be filledwith them, in which case they closely resemble the vesselsof an animal during the early period of its development.This state of things always exists in inflammation, and themultiplication of the bioplasts proceeds to a wonderful extent.The appearances seen ai-e not due simply to the accumulationof white blood-corpuscles, as some have held, but only partlyto this, and mainly, as I pointed out many years ago, to theiractual growth and increase. " I f in any capillaries of thebody the circulation is retarded from any cause, an increasein the white blood-corpuscles invariably takes place. Incongestion and inflammation of the vessels of the frog's foot,the number of the white blood-corpuscles soon becomes sogreat as to impede and ultimately to stop the circulationthrough the vessel. Although the great majority are merely

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corpuscles that have been retarded in their passage, there canbe little doubt that the corpuscles actually multiply in num-ber in the clot that is formed."1 This fact of the increase ofthe white blood-corpuscles has been overlooked in conse-quence of the examination not having been conducted withsufficient care, and with powers of low magnifying power.

The capillary vessel of an inflamed part being distended,its walls consequently become much reduced in thickness,and little longitudinal rents or fissures are here and thereproduced. Through these serum, holding in suspension veryminute bioplasts detached from the larger ones growing andmultiplying in the vessel, pass. Having thus extravasated,these particles, resulting directly from the subdivision of thewhite blood-corpuscles, make their way into the intersticesof the surrounding tissues, and being nearly stationary, andabundantly supplied with nutrient pabulum, grow and mul-tiply in the uew locality, and at an increasing rate. Thephenomena here described will be understood if fig.7,Pl. XIV,be carefully examined. This has been copied from a prepara-tion which was preserved in the year 1863. But the factsdemonstrated were well known to me, and were described inmy lectures before 1863, and were particularly referred to ina paper presented by me to the Royal Microscopical Society in.that year. I did not come to the conclusion which has beenrecently advocated by Cohnheim, that an individual whiteblood-corpuscle passed through the wall of the vessel, andthen changed its characters and became a pus corpuscle; butmy observations led me to infer—and of the correctness ofthe conclusion I am fully satisfied—that the particles of ger-minal or living matter seen in such great numbers outsidethe vessels in many cases of inflammation at an early stage,result principally from the growth, division, and subdivisionof minute particles of germinal matter which have passedthrough the vascular wall suspended in the fluid exuda-tion. These masses of germinal matter (fig. 7, PI. XIV)are the descendants of white blood-corpuscles, but they arenot the white blood-corpuscles themselves which were pre-viously in the blood, and which were circulating in thatfluid. They may continue to grow and multiply likeother kinds of germinal matter, until at last that rapidly-growing form of bioplasm, the common result of the greatly-increased growth and multiplication of every form of bio-plasm in the living body, may be produced. Thus the puscorpuscle may be a descendant of the white blood-corpuscle,

1 "On the Germinal Matter of the Blood, wifcli Remarks upon thaFormation of Fibrin," December 9th, 1863, ' Trans, of the Mic. Soc'

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as well as of the germinal matter of epithelium, and of othertissues, and we may trace back its parentage to the originalembryonic bioplasmic mass, which must be regarded as theprimitive ancestor of all.

Degradation of Bioplasm in Peritonitis, and the productionof Contagious Virus.—In peritonitis we have an example of animflammation which much more frequently proceeds to theformation of pus than inflammation of other serous mem-branes. The great vascularity of the peritoneum as comparedwith that of other serous membranes, may perhaps accountfor this fact. It is interesting to discuss briefly the cha-racters of the different " inflammatory products," as theyare called, resulting from peritoneal inflammation, varyingin intensity.

In slight inflammation there is great vascular disten-sion, as in other cases accompanied by the escape of ex-udation in which are suspended particles of bioplasm.The exudation coagulates upon the surfaces of the serousmembrane, perhaps gluing them together. The fluid portionis gradually absorbed, and if the case progresses to reco-very, much of the coagulated matter is also taken up, a littlebeing transformed into fibrous tissue, resulting in a few" adhesions," or mere thickening of the serous membrane, asthe case may be.

When, however, the intensity of the inflammation isgreater, the little particles of bioplasm originally derived fromthe white blood-corpuscles, grow and multiply, and, withthe fibrinous matter in which they are entangled, form trans-parent flocculi, which are suspended in the serous part ofthe exudation, or adhere here and there loosely to the peri-toneal surface. Many of these flocculi are found to containmultitudes of bioplasm particles, and oftentimes a vast num-ber of these are suspended in the fluid, and congregated hereand there, forming little collections upon the surface of thedelicate serous membrane, to which they adhere, and wherethey grow.

If the inflammatory process still continues, and increasesin severity, the vascularity of the membrane becomes moremarked, and the exudation is poured out from the bloodmore abundantly; the masses of bioplasm increase innumber yet faster, and the exudation in consequence appearsnearly opaque. The flocculi are of a yellowish colour, andlook not unlike pieces of clotted cream which stick here andthere to the peritoneum covering the intestines and the innersurface of the abdominal parietes. Not unfrequently thesurface is smeared over in places with whitish pasty

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masses of soft cream-like matter, in the intervals betweenwhich the highly-injected -vessels stand out with great dis-tinctness. The masses of hioplasm would now be called puscorpuscles. Here then, is an interesting example of theproduction of pus-corpuscles by the rapid growth and multi-plication of particles of bioplasm which were once in theblood, and intimately related to the white blood-corpuscles.

But further : if, as is well known, a little of this mate-rial be introduced into the body, as sometimes unfortu-nately happens from a dissection-wound in the course ofmaking a post-mortem examination, terrible inflammationmay be excited in the person inoculated. The most tinymorsel of this virulent, rapidly-multiplying morbid bioplasmmay give rise to a dreadful form of blood-poisoning, whichmay end fatally and in a very short time. And in some casessimilar poisonous particles are so light that they are sup-ported by the air, may find their way into the blood throughthe respiratory organs, or gain access to the circulating fluideven by traversing the narrow chinks between the epithelialcells of the cuticle.

Now, what is the nature of the matter inoculated, whichproduces these dreadful results ? The virulent poison whichsometimes destroys life in cases of dissection-wounds cannotbe attributed to the presence of vegetable germs, for theperiod of its most virulent activity is shortly after death, butbefore the occurrence of putrefaction, when the vegetablefungus germs multiply.

It has been assumed that the poison in question is notdeveloped until after death has occurred. But no one hasshown that if inoculation were effected while the patient yetlived, the results would be in any way different. There issurely no more doubt that such poison is developed duringlife, than that small-pox and syphilitic poison, and many others,which, I have shown, are allied to it, and probably grow andmultiply in the same manner, increase during life.

When putrefaction has actually set in, and bacteria germsare being developed in immense numbers, a punctured woundis not productive of the dire consequences which result ifinoculation takes place within a few hours after death. Infact, the real virus loses its power when decomposition corn-mences. Before vegetable germs appear the virus is active;soon after these have been developed it is harmless. Itspower cannot, therefore, be attributed to the germs but tosomething else which continues to live and remain active fora short time after death, and then becomes changed and dis-appears, the products resulting like those remaining after the

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death of other forms of living matter being appropriated bythe growiug vegetable organisms which are seen in such im-mense numbers.

It -would seem, therefore, reasoning from the facts in thisone form of inflammation, that there can be little doubt asregards the nature of the poison. The minute particles ofbioplasm or living matter produced in such great numbersas the inflammation advanced, are the actual agents, and itis by their rapid growth and multiplication in the lymph,and afterwards in the blood, particularly in the capillaries invarious parts of the body, that the dreadful effects exertedby these particles in an organism into which some havebeen introduced by inoculation, must be attributed.

It seems, then, that every stage in the production of atleast this particular virulent poison, may be watched andstudied, and from the facts ascertained a connected historyof its development may be compiled. We have seen thatthe first particles of bioplasm resulted directly from the whiteblood-corpuscles. In consequence of continued free accessof nutrient material, series after series, generation after gene-ration, of new particles was produced; each series degene-rating in formative power, and acquiring new powers, butof mere growth and multiplication, and a capacity for livingupon materials which would not have been appropriated bythe bioplasm from which it originated. The following diagrammay perhaps assist in rendering my meaning clearer.

White blood-corpuscle.

Healthy bioplasm.Formative.

« fContagious

disease germs.Morbid bioplasm.

Destructive.

Successive series of living particles resulting from the growth and multi-plication of a sinple white blood-corpuscle. Each series grows faster than,the one from which it, originated. In the plan, the process of multiplicationis represented as if it only occurred in the case of one particle in each series,but, in order that an accurate conception of the process may be formed, similarradiating lines with bioplasts must be supposed to diverge from every partof the circumference of every particle, a, Is a white blood-corpuscle; b,c, d, and e, Successive series of particles which produce others, until atlast contagious disease germs, f, result.

• The contagious disease-carrying bioplast is then a descend-ant of the white blood corpuscle, or some other form of

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bioplasm or living germinal matter of the body which wasonce healthy. And these have descended from the originalembryonic bioplasm mass. The death-producing diseasegerm, therefore, is not derived from the vegetable kingdom,and is not a parasite, but seems to have been derived fromthe living or germinal matter of man's own organism.

The evidence seems to prove that from normal white blood-corpuscles may be evolved after very rapid growth and mul-tiplication, bioplasts or living particles, which possess themost virulent poisonous properties, destroying not only theorganism which gave them birth, but able to kill any otherorganism into which they may be introduced. The higherformative life of the white blood-corpuscle is degraded, andits character for ever lost. But while this degradation hasbeen going on, new powers of life have somehow been ac-quired. We cannot say there has been any loss of merevitality, of appropriating pabulum, of growing and multiply-ing, for the new particles live faster than those from whichthey emanated, but there has been loss of constructive, lossof formative, power. Living matter derived from the blood,which performs a very active part in healthy changes in theorganism, and without which healthy life cannot be sus-tained, escapes from the blood, grows and lives under newconditions, and from this results a living matter with propertiesor powers so very different that if it returns to the bloodit may, by its increased rate of growth and multiplication,appropriate the nutriment destined for the healthy textures,and destroy the organism. It is a poison generated by thedegradation of healthy living matter. From bioplasm whichleft the blood a formative constructive living substance, hasbeen developed, a living matter so deleterious that if it re-enters the same blood, or that of another being, terriblederangement and irreparable injury are occasioned, if indeeddeath does not occur.

And there is reason to think that the generation of thepoison of many contagious diseases, and all contagiousfevers, occurs in the same way. It is certain that manycases of blood-poisoning, and various forms of idiopathicfever, depend upon the passage into the blood, and its dis-semination through the system, of a poisonous bioplasmwhich has been generated in the body, the virulent bioplasmitself having resulted from the growth and multiplication ofgenerations of particles derived by continuous successionfrom the normal bioplasm of the organism. These views havebeen further developed in the second part of my work on" Disease Germs," which will, I hope, be completed in thecourse of the present summer.