LIFE 
IN ITS 
PHYSICAL ASPECTS, 
BY 
CHARLES GIRARD, 
From the Proceedings of the National Institute. 
WASHINGTON; 
PRINTED BY R. A. WATERS. 
1855. CONTENTS 
Introduction, - . 5 
Histology, 7 
Cellular Theory, --- ------- 7 
(Primordial Cells, ----- 7 
Derivative Cells, - - 8 
Embryogony, ----------- 9 
Organic Elements, - 11 
Mechanics of Liee, ---------- 11 
Animal Fabric, - -- -- -- -- - 13 
Nutrient Fluid, ---------- 14 
Chemistry op Life, ---------- 16 
Inorganic Materials scattered through the fabric, - - - 18 
White Corpuscles op the Blood, - -- -- --20 
Lymph and Lymphatic System, ------- - 20 
Genesis of the Circulation, - -- -- ---21 
VITELLUS AND FiBRINE HOMOLOGOUS, - -- -- - -22 
Floatitg Cells and White Corpuscles of the blood 23 
Epithelian Cells, - - - - - 24 
Application to Medicine, - -- ---..-24 
Appendix, - --------27 Animated beings manifest a twofold nature : one is material; the 
other, spiritual. 
The material or physical nature assumes a form, a shape, peculiar in 
each species, constituting bodies, tangible and visible to the senses ; the 
spiritual nature consists of an immaterial essence, without any form or 
shape, either visible or tangible to the senses. 
Now, whether we call the latter immaterial principle, spirit or soul* 
it matters not: let us regard it as the condition sine qua nonoi the phy* 
sical manifestation of animated beings. To its sphere are to be referred 
the moral acts and the moral tendencies, which belong to the domain of 
moral philosophy. 
Of the physical nature of animated beings alone, we propose to treat 
in the present memoir; the different phases through which it passes 
from its first manifestation up to its last stage of existence, constituting 
what we term the physical aspects of life. 
The physical aspects of life result from a series of functions; all of 
which depend on one general function presiding throughout the whole 
range of animal existence!: in’other words, the law under which a physical 
being starts, is ike law under which it lives its whole life through. 
It is therefore proposed, as our chief object, to inquire into the ulti* 
mate process of organic life, that is to say, the elaboration of matter, its 
assimilation, and its passage into the various parts and organs which it 
constitutes. 6 
Hence the leading thought of this essay may thus be briefly expressed; 
The phenomena of the animal economy take place as though 
THE LIVING FABRIC WERE BUT A FACTORY OF CELLS, 
First.—All the organs and tissues are a compound of cells, diversely 
modified or metamorphosed; 
Second.—The first aspect under which an animal manifests itself is 
that of a cell; 
Third.—The subsequent growth of that animal is a simple multipli- 
cation of cells; 
Fourth.—The nourishing process is a mere replacing of decayed or 
broken up cells, by new ones. 
Such is the hypothesis, theory, or law, whichever it may be termed. Microscopic investigations of animal structures at large, have satisfied 
most anatomists and physiologists that all organs are a component of 
cells.—that cells are found at the base of all animal tissues,—that cells 
are the materials which constitute the entire organic frame. 
The actual demonstrations of these facts form a not unimportant branch 
of general anatomy, upon which much has already been written. 
It is therefore not in place here to undertake any structural analysis 
of organs and tissues, or to enter into any discussion of the cellular doc- 
trine, from which some minds may dissent. We receive it here as phi- 
losophical and sound, since our own researches and studies are all in its 
favor. 
The cellular doctrine is the keystone of all that follows; and some of 
the facts hereafter to be mentioned may tend furthermore towards its 
illustration. 
In the organic structure of animals, there are cells which are primor- 
dial in their nature, and other cells which are produced within the latter, 
and hence may be termed derivative cells. 
Ist, The primordial cells originate through the union of two primary 
liquids, which combine according to a given principle of reciprocal affin- 
ity. 
2d. The derivative cells are formed within the primordial cells, through 
the growth of nuclei therein contained, being developed according to the 
principle of exogenesis. 
The experiments of Dr. Ascherson* have made us acquainted with 
the mode in which primordial cells will form in an artificial way by 
simply bringing into contact, under the ordinary temperature of animal 
heat, liquid fat and albumen. 
* Muller's Archiv fiir Anatomic, Physiologic und wissenschaftliche Medicin. 
Jahrgang 1840, p. 44 ; also Comptes-Rendus de I’lnstitut (Academic des Sciences). 
Vol. VII, 1838, p. 837. 8 
Liquid fat, or oil, as well as albumen, when examined under the mi- 
croscope, in their primitive pure state, exhibit that peculiar appear- 
ance known as continuity of structure', these substances are purely liquid 
throughout. But no sooner has a contact been effected between them, than 
cells are instantaneously formed, The examination of these cells has ena- 
bled the experimenter to ascertain that the oil or liquid fat (either will do) 
is the enclosed substance, whilst the albumen constitutes the enveloping 
substance under the shape of a membrane, the gradual formation of which 
has been watched, and its process described. 
Primordial cells thus artificially obtained are so perfectly similar to 
the primordial cells formed directly by the animal fabric, that no phy- 
siologist could point out the difference. 
Yet they are not identical in a philosophical point of view • inasmuch as 
the artificial cells, isolated as they are from the living fabric, will not make 
any further progress. Life we cannot impart to them artificially. Vi- 
tality is not within the reach of our experiments. We cannot start life 
mechanically. Still less has matter the power of starting it. 
The point of departure of living beings is altogether moral and placed 
far beyond the sphere of human power and human intellect. 
In order to understand the formation of the derivative cells, we must 
return to the animal fabric,—which alone can procreate them,—thereto 
witness the primeval shape, the first manifestation of a being that is about 
to make its appearance upon the stage of life. 
Every animal originates from an egg; the ancient adage, “ omne vivum 
ex ovof is true and sound. But the egg, as an egg, is already a being ; 
a being that has undergone various phases, and consequently has a pre- 
vious history. 
The researches respecting the development of the ova, in the various 
classes of the animal kingdom, have furnished to embryologists the means 
of establishing beyond any reasonable doubt, that there exists an instant 
in their history when the eggs are not to be distinguished from the ordi- 
nary cells constituting organic tissues; 
And that there is another instant, when these cells increase in size, and 
are storing up within their walls or envelopes generations upon genera- 
tions of younger cells, thus preparing the egg properly so called. 
The process of growth of an organic cell which is destined to become 
an eSS> as follows: in its interior, nuclei will first make their appear- 
ance, which nuclei will growT into as many cellules, within which cellu- 
les nucleoli will appear, indicating a third generation of cellules. The 
latter again will grow in accordance with the same law than their parent 9 
and grand-parent cells themselves grew, and thus,multiplying by exogene- 
sis, gradually build up the yelk sphere. 
Now, whenever the third generation of cells appears and developes, the 
grandmother cell dissolves, setting free its contents; and so on, until 
the egg is mature. 
Partial observations upon the formation of cells within cells, were 
first made by Martin Barry in the third series of his “ Researches in 
Embryology: a contribution to the Physiology of Cells.”* 
Since our own researches have been directed towards that field of in- 
quiry, every well observed fact has become confirmatory of the doctrine 
Of THE DEVELOPMENT OF CELLS THROUGH THE GROWTH OF NUCLEI; 
which we hold to be true for the entire animal kingdom. 
A period arrives when the egg is mature, that is, full grown. The 
yelk, then, is composed of minute cells, all uniform in structure, and ap- 
parently in a state of absolute quiescence. The egg, thus far, is prepared 
by the female exclusively. It will, however, not fulfil its destiny without 
the cooperation of the opposite sex. 
We have discussed elsewheref the probable phenomena attending this 
period in the history of the ova. These phenomena having no direct 
bearing upon the leading question treated in the present memoir, we need 
not dwell upon them. 
We take now the egg after the fecundation: the latter is no sooner ef- 
fected than a new activity is displayed, both in the vitelline or yelk-cells 
individually, and in the vitelline sphere as a tout ensemble: 
The yelk sphere undergoes a process ofcleavage or division, well known 
and described ; the signification of which, we believe, may be better under- 
stood when looked upon as a general kneading of its substance; 
And at the same time that this kneading of the entire mass is taking 
place, the constituent cells, each individually, undergo that process of cel- 
lular life alluded to above: a labor of diversification begins amongst these 
cells, for the building up of various parts—various regions in the embryo- 
nic mass. 
For, now, the yelk or vitelline sphere has become an embryo. As the 
embryo progresses in its development, the various organs of which it 
t Jonm. of the Acad, of Nat. Sciences of Philadelphia. New Series. Vol. 11, 
1854, with three plates. 
* Pint. Trans, of the Royal Society of London, for the year 1840, p. 529. 10 
will successively be composed make their appearance, in the order of their 
relative rank. The central and essential, first; then the secondary ones. 
When hatched, the new being is provided with various parts, each of 
which is composed of diversified cells; so much so that a microscopical 
examination will determine the organ which they constitute. 
Now, all this diversity sprang up from a most uniform substance. Sub- 
stances which a chemical analysis could not have ascertained to exist 
within the egg, before its fecundation, have successively made their ap- 
pearance during the development of the embryo. 
It may be inquired, whence do these substances come ? Did the or- 
ganism create them, that is to say, make them out of nothing % Surely 
not. The organism produced them by transforming the homogeneous 
materials placed under its control. Yet it must be remembered that this 
transformation takes place through the agency of heat, which is transmitted 
through the shell or external envelope of the egg. Heat, therefore, plays 
an important part in the process of the transformation of substances within 
the organic fabric. And it is not unreasonable to suppose that the atmo- 
spheric elements penetrate the egg, imbibing as it were the vitelline sub- 
stance while being transformed or metamorphosed. 
The same doctrine will apply to the formation of the yelk within the 
original primordial cell. That primordial cell, however, is under the 
control of the living fabric of the parent, and is surrounded with primary 
fluids that may greatly assist the production of its substances through the 
process of endosmosis. 
To illustrate this process by an example: the primordial cells—and 
consequently the primitive eggs—we have stated, are a compound of oil 
on the one part, and of albumen on the other; the albumen forming the 
envelope, whilst the oil constitutes the contents. Now, in order to trans- 
form the oily contents into cellules, or nuclei which are the first stage of 
cellules, an addition of albumen seems necessarily required, and that al- 
bumen may be considered as entering the primordial envelope by endos- 
mosis. 
But here we approach the ultimate and impalpable act of physical life, 
which escapes observation. 
To resume briefly the foregoing chapter: from its immature up to its 
mature or full grown state, an animal grows by an addition of cells 
made to its various organs—homogeneous cells elaborated by its own 
fabric, and furnished to every organ, to every tissue, by which organs and 
tissues these hemogeneous cells are assimilated to their own peculiar 
nature. 
Hence, the same law under which the new being is started, prevails 
throughout all its phases, all its metamorphoses, and all its stages of 
growth; in other words, the means which nature employs in view of the 
perpetuation of the species are the same as those made use of by her in the 
process of the growth and sustenance of material or physical life. 11 
If the primordial cell is considered as the elementary physiological 
particle of the organic tissues, then we may safely say that, physiologi- 
cally speaking-, there are no organic elements properly so called; for, 
however simple a cell maybe, its existence implies the presence of two 
substances of an apparently elementary nature—an internal and enclosed 
substance, and an external and enclosing one. Thus a primordial cell 
does not arise from one substance : two substances are required to effect the 
formation of primordial cells. 
It has been shown that the two substances which give origin to the 
primordial cells, are, oil on one side, and, albumen on the other. 
Oil and albumen, therefore, constitute the organic primary materials ; 
but neither oil nor albumen is itself a simple body or element. 
For, oily matters are composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen; 
And albumen of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. 
Consequently the true elements of organic substances are the same as 
those that enter into the constitution of most inorganic bodies. 
Under this*heading is comprised all that diversity of movements and 
motions which give to animated nature its animated aspect. 
Here we touch upon a wide field of research. 
There are first the movements of every animal as a whole; and then 
the movements of its parts or organs each individually: all of which are 
at the will of the animal. 
And there are the motions of some of its organs not under the control 
of its will. 
The movements of an animal as a whole, and the various motions of 
its organs individually, constitute the zoological aspect of the mecha- 
nics of life.* 
Behind (we might say at the bottom of) these tangible movements and 
motions of complex parts, there is a molecular motion (if we may use 
such an expression) of the constituent particles of each organ or part, 
which constitutes the physiological aspect of these same mechanics of 
life. 
*The zoological aspect of the mechanics of life will form the subject of a 
aacßequent memoir. 12 
But each motion implies a motory power. Let us inquire into this. 
The constituent particles of all organic tissues and organs are, as al- 
ready stated, the animal cells. Animal cells possess in themselves their 
own power of motion, a motion per se, inherent to each cell. A latent 
power as it were, which, upon the application of an impulsive principle 
transmitted to the cell through its walls, will expand it and thus cause it to 
move; and this motion, on being communicated to the adjoining particles 
or cells, will set in motion an entire organ. 
The impulsive principle is altogether physical in its nature. Elec- 
tricity under some sort of form pervades animated bodies. Chemical 
combustion results from its evolution. The motion, at first, is molecular: 
many cells expand to bursting; in bursting, they are dissolved, and their 
materials used as fuel; their constituent elements resolve themselves into 
gases, and these constitute the actual motory agents of the organs. 
Carbonic acid gas is the most prominent; its presence in the body is 
thus connected with the body’s motions; 
Just as the materials consumed as fuel are connected with the nutritive 
process, as will be shown farther on. 
The physical history of an animated being, while under a tangible and 
physical aspect, consists in the combination of a few chemical elements 
as the foundation of its material frame, intermixed with other inorganic 
elements of an accessory importance. These elements aie the same as 
pervade the other kingdoms of nature, passing here through a series of 
metamorphoses or compounds of a gradually higher and more complex 
degree, and redissolving into primary elements at the terminus of the 
duration of material life. 
Let it be stated, in passing, that, to the animated structure of physical 
bodies is superadded in human beings a soul, or moral nature, which oc- 
cupies in them a temporary abode. 
Now then, in order to harmonize this hasty sketch with the idea by 
which we are guided, we resume as follows : 
In all living bodies there is a wearing away of the particles of which 
their various organs are composed. 
Every physical motion, every action of the mind, involves the dissolu- 
tion, the using up of materials that belong to the organ which is called 
into action. 
The organs being composed of cells or their derivatives, the wearing 
away of their constituent particles, therefore, is nothing less than the 
using up of organic cells or their derivatives in a given quantity, always 
equivalent to the act performed. 13 
If organized bodies, therefore, did not receive new materials to promote 
their economy, there would be a gradual decline in their activity, until 
life would entirely cease. In like manner an inorganic body depends upon 
a constant renewal of the force which caused it to move, to keep in motion; 
otherwise it would gradually slacken ins course, and come to a state of ab- 
solute rest. 
Absolute rest is death to organized bodies. 
Living bodies, consequently, require nourishment, to maintain their 
activity, as well as for completing their growth. They consume materials 
whilst growing; accordingly they require more nourishment duringtheir 
immature than in their mature condition, having to provide simultaneously 
for the addition of substance by which their mass is increased, and the re- 
placing of the substance used up by their activity. 
And thus we see animals borrowing materials from the surrounding 
world, and introducing them into a cavity of their body, known as the 
stomach, therein to undergo a process of elaboration, or transformation, 
before they are fit to be appropriated by the various tissues or organs in 
need of them. 
The materials borrowed from the external world and introduced into 
the animal fabric are most varied in their character. By a large number 
of animals a certain selection is made, some of them depending exclu- 
sively upon one kind of food, and some on another; some appropriate 
vegetable and others animal substances. 
But whichever be the case, let an animal be fed upon all sorts of sub- 
stances, or upon one substance exclusively, the food taken is different in 
its structure from the constituent substance of the species which appropri- 
ates it to its use,—each species having its peculiar constituent organic 
cells. Before these new materials can be of any avail to the fabric into 
which they are introduced, they must necessarily undergo a process of 
elaboration; that is to say, their specific nature must yield its state of 
being and assume a new form, a new stale of being, in order to become 
a fit constituent part of a body differently shaped, and endowed with dif- 
ferent wants and propensities. 
One example will illustrate this train of thought. Let us suppose a 
meadow in which grass-is luxuriantly growing. Whether the grasses 
be of various kinds or of one kind only, the bearing will be the same; 
this will constitute a vegetable food of one common class. Now Jet a 
horse, an ox, a sheep, and a goat, graze together, in such a pasture, side 
b7 side. These animals will take the same food, appropriating it to their 
economy according to the same general process. What will be the re- 
sult? four kinds of flesh are formed as widely different from each other as 
these species of animal are distinct; distinct in their flavor, distinct in every 
particular of their intimate structure, yet flesh in every case. 14 
The physical life of the horse, the ox, the sheep, and the goat, is sus 
tained, and the growth of these creatures promoted, in each according to 
its kind, though surrounded by identical external circumstances, and fur- 
nished with the same food. 
Again, turn your thoughts fftr a moment to what is daily taking place 
in a river or in a lake, along a sea-coast or in a bay. Each of these 
media is peopled with a host of beiiags belonging to various classes, orders, 
and families. Their circumstances of life are identical; their wants and 
propensities are varied as their forms. They prey upon one another; they 
appropriate and transform organic substances according to their own spe- 
cific nature, with a constancy, a fixity of purpose, over which time has no 
control. A salmon, remains a salmon; a white-fish, a white-fish; &c,, 
&c,, to the perpetuity of their races. 
The signification of all this is self-evident, forcibly plain ; each animal, 
in its kind, is endowed with an immaterial and specific principle, working 
out its destiny upon this planet according to a preordained plan, and a pre- 
determined direction imparted to it at the beginning of the actual existing 
order of things. 
This working up of matter which each species models according to 
its own image, is one of the most powerful arguments in favor of the ex- 
istence of an immaterial and independent principle in each species, and 
also of the existence above them all of another great principle, self-con- 
scient, who, by His sole will, has made them what they are. 
Beyond the phenomena of nutrition we touch the bounds of moral life. 
If we may explain the physical being in its diverse manifestations or as- 
pects, the genesis of moral being is not within our reach. Here the 
true naturalist sets aside his tools, and, with submissive thoughts, glori 
fies his Maker. 
The nutrient fluid, when considered in the animal kingdom as a whole, 
presents itself under three typical forms, from its simplest expression in 
the polyps, up to its most complex state, in the vertebrata, of which man 
is the head. 
These diverse phases of the circulation are well known to physio- 
logists. 
In polyps or radiata of an inferior grade, in some mollusca and some 
Crustacea, the nutrient fluid circulates as chyme. Now, wherever the 
circulation is chimiferous, there are not proper organs of respiration ; 
water enters the body through the mouth or through the walls of the body, 
mixes directly with the chyme, and circulates with it. 
The chimiferous circulation is met with in aquatic types only, 
In the highest radiata, mollusca, and most arliculata, the nutrient fluid 
circulates as chyle, There are special reservoirs for the assimilation and 15 
the circulation of that fluid ; and, as a necessary consequence, there are 
organs of respiration. Moreover, wherever a chyliferous system exist, 
there is likewise a lymphatic system. 
The chyliferous circulation is met with in terrestrial as well as in 
aquatic types. 
The chyle may assume most varied and sometimes vivid colors, 
It is in vertebrata alone that the nutrient fluid circulates as Hood. 
The elaboration of this fluid undergoes here the most complete morpho- 
logy. Organs of respiration of two sorts, gills and lungs; a system 
of vessels to transport the chyle; a double circulation, arterial and venous; 
a system of vessels carrying lymph,—attest by their presence that the 
elaboration of the nutrient fluid passes through a longer and more com- 
plex process than that heretofore alluded to. True blood is the last phase 
in the morphology of the nutrient fluid. It is only by analogy that blood 
in the articulata, mollusca, and radiata, is spoken of. 
To recall now briefly, and in a physiological point of view, the con- 
stituent parts of the blood, we have : 
A liquor sanguinis composed of water and of albumen, in which float 
the so-called corpuscles, or blood-disks, the fibrine, and likewise some mi- 
neral salts. ♦ 
The corpuscles are of a peculiar character in each animal; they are 
almost all alike in shape and size in any given species. There are two 
kinds of corpuscles, or blood-disks, the red and the white; the red being 
by far the most numerous. 
The red corpuscles contain in their interior either a colorless and trans- 
parent nucleus, generally spherical in shape, sometimes ovate; or else 
several nuclei, agglomerated, resembling a diminutive mulberry. 
The white corpuscles, by their small number, appear in some sort lost 
in the midst of the red. They are generally smaller, scarcely ever as 
large as the red; their shape is nearly circular, their size constant and 
uniform. Their contents consist always of several scattered and very dis- 
tinct nuclei. They have been designated under the names of chyliferous 
and lymphatic corpuscles; they are altogether different from the red cor- 
puscles in their structure as also in the part which they play in the ani- 
mal economy. 
Th& fibrine has always been considered as the nutritive portion of the 
blood, as the essential part, that part which is taken up by the fabric in 
the act of nutrition, that is to say in the growth and in the reparations 
of the losses which all the organs sustain. The fact that fibrine is less 
abundant in the venous than in the arterial blood, would alone suffice to 
prove that this substance is appropriated by the animal fabric. Fibrine 
is considered as a plastic structureless fluid, the solidification of which, in 
the tissues being the final act in which it participates. To use the expression 
of physiologists, it is a sort of vital crystallization, which vital crystalliza- 
tion of the fibrine in the tissues would explain the process of nutrition. 16 
Let us now follow the transformation of the substances taken as food 
for the double purpose of repairing the losses of the animal fabric or 
promoting the wants of its economy, and of providing materials for its 
growth. 
The digestive system is the laboratory of matter, the retort (we would 
like to say) in which the substances are elaborated. 
The office of the stomach is to digest; in other words to reduce to an 
elementary pulp the various cells constituting the substances introduced 
and called upon to furnish, to the system of circulation, new nutritive ma- 
terials. 
The pulp resulting from the digestion is the chyme. In passing through 
the intestines a separation is made; a portion is absorbed by a system of 
vessels, known as the lacteals, whose office it is to carry it into the veins. 
The portion of the chyme which is absorbed is the chyle. The other 
portion is expelled from the economy as a useless residue which the 
chemical process of digestion failed to dissolve. 
The chyle, then, is the only portion of the digested food which is ap- 
propriated by the fabric; that chyle is now to be assimilated in order to 
become nutritive. 
But the chyle in its nature consists chiefly of liquid fat, or oil: as such 
it is not nutritive; and we know that the nutritive part of the blood, the 
fibrine, is neither liquid fat nor oil. 
Let us, therefore, return for a moment to the lacteal vessels, through 
which the chyle is forced into the venous blood. 
Previous to the emptying of the lacteals into the veins (similar to small 
bodies of water pouring their element into larger rivers), they have met 
with the lymphatic vessels, the contents of which are thus added to their 
own as they meet with it in their onward course. 
The contents of the lymphatic vessels consists of lymph; the nature of 
the lymph is albuminous: lymph is pure albumen. 
The lymph is no sooner poured into the lacteals, than the two liquids,, 
lymph and chyle, combine. The result of this combination is the forma- 
tion of cells—of primordial cells, in every respect similar to the primor- 
dial cells which may be produced in an artificial way, in bringing into 
contact albumen and liquid fat, as shown by experiments above alluded to. 
Primordial cells may be formed in the lacteals also under the follow- 
ing circumstances: 
It must strike every one that albumen is also supplied to the wants of 
the fabric through the digestive apparatus. When therefore albuminous 
matter predominates in the digestion, it is absorbed by the lacteals; to which, when fatty matter is present, cells are instantaneously formed. 
When albumen is in excess in the digestion, it is carried as such into the 
circulation, thus supplying the liquor sanguinis with the amount of that 
substance which is required to constitute the serum. 
Again, when the albumen carried by the lymphatics is likewise in ex- 
cess over the fatty matter of the lacteals, it passes as such into the liquor 
sanguinis for the same purpose of forming the serum. 
The primordial cells now enter the venous circulation and are carried, 
more or less directly, to the Jungs; in which organs, their previous pinkish 
color is changed into the 'red hue which characterizes them. Hence- 
forth they are called the red corpuscles of the blood. 
The red corpuscles of the blood, consequently are primordial organic 
cells. Embryology alone could settle this problem. It is not surprising, 
therefore, that their true nature should have been misunderstood when 
first discovered, since at that period embryology had not assumed its rank 
amongst natural scicences. Yet it appears singular that the experiments 
of Dr. Ascherson did not give the hint to physiologists; all of whom were 
conversant with the fact that cells were formed in the lacteals upon the 
admixture of the lymph and the chyle,—who knew that the lymph was 
nothing but albumen, and that the chyle was chieflly liquid fat. 
But let us not lose sight of these so-called red corpuscles, now floating 
in the midst of the nutrient fluid. The part which they play in the ani- 
mal economy is to be further investigated. Their interior has become a 
new centre of elaboration, in which nuclei develope according to the general 
Jaw adverted to above. These nuclei are a generation of minute cells, 
afterwards to float likewise in the liquor sanguinis, when the primitive 
envelope or membrane of the corpqscles shall have been dissolved. This 
dissolution of the primordial cells (corpuscles) of the nutrient fluid, in all 
probability, takes place in the lungs, subsequently to a first or second cir- 
cuit in the reservoirs of the circulation. It is during that circuit that their 
nuclei appear and develope into cells of a second generation, to constitute 
the fibrine upon the rupture of these corpuscles. 
The prime office of the primordial cells, then, is to elaborate a genera- 
tion of cells, which are the constitutive materials of the fibrine ; the fibrine 
is the assemblage of these minute and homogenous cells formed within 
the red corpuscles or primordial cells of the blood or nutrient fluid. 
Besides the elaboration of the fibrine, primordial cells have a secondary 
office to perform. They convene into the economy a supply of oxygen, 
and bring back from it, for the purpose of being expelled, the excess of 
carbonic acid not wanted therein. Not improbably it is during this giving 
away of the carbonic acid gas, that the primitive envelope of these cells 
js burned and thus dissolved by the pulmonary combustion, setting free 
the young cellules they contain, henceforth to float freely in the stream of 
the liquor sanguinis as fibrine. 
The fibrine is acknowledged by general consent to be the nutritive 18 
portion of the nutrient fluid. While under the immediate action of the 
organism it is disseminated throughout the whole bulk of the nourishing 
fluid or blood in the shape of minute cellules. When it is withdrawn 
from the living fabric and an attempt be made to separate the diverse ele- 
ments of that fluid, these minute cellules agglomerate together, consti- 
tuting what is termed the clot, with which is always mixed a certain 
amount of albumen. 
Now, the fibrine is to go to the tissues under the shape of minute cells 
passing through the walls of the capillary vessels. These cells 
take the place of the dissolved particles, turning into flesh, bone, nerve, &c.. 
&c,, according to the organ to which they happen to be carried. For, 
as long as they circulate in the blood, they are perfectly homogenous and 
ready to be transformed into any of the various tissues which constitute 
the organic frame. Each organ, each tissue, has its own peculiar cellu- 
lar structure. The living principle of the animal fabric provides for that 
diversity. When, therefore, the cells of the fibrine reach an organ 
either to repair its losses or to promote its growth, they undergo a meta- 
morphosis by which they are assimilated to the nature and structure of 
that organ or that tissue. 
The cells of the fibrine being in fact the elementary materials of which 
physical bodies owe their existence, the name of protean cells is deemed 
well appropriated to designate them. 
In calling the cells of the fibrine protean cells, we wish it to be under- 
stood, that that name alludes simply to the part which they perform in 
the economy of living bodies,-—that of being the primary materials out 
of which their entire frame is built up,—making no allusion whatever, 
to the organic proteine of some chemists. If, however, we go any 
further inquiring into the constitutive elements of these cells, we will 
find for answer the words oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen! as 
fundamental constituents of all organic bodies. 
The entire economy of organic bodies, the living fabric, therefore, is 
but an elaboration of cells ; the immaterial principle which resides within 
them all, disposes of the cells according to a plan stamped upon each 
species, to suit their wants, their aptitudes, their propensities, by which 
all organs are necessary to one another in the animal structure, and all 
animals necessary to one another in the plan of creation. 
Through this cellular process of the fabric there is a constant and 
gradual renewing of all the constituent particles of organic bodies; so 
that it may truly be said that all the cells which constitute now any given 
organism, will, after the lapse of a certain period—perhaps of years—have 
been entirely replaced by other cells. 
Chemical analyses of the various parts and organs, constituting the 
frame-work known as the animal fabric, have revealed to us the presence 19 
therein of several other mineral elements or compounds besides carbon, 
hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. The latter form the basis of the or- 
ganic frame; the former are disseminated through it. 
They are met with either as earths forming a share of the structure of 
several solid organs, or else as salts and acids, floating in the various 
liquids. 
Some of them are of prime necessity for the welfare of the animal 
fabric in its highest grade of organization. Thus phosphorus is neces- 
sary to the bony frame of vertebrates, and calcium is necessary to the exo- 
skeleton of molluscs and radiates. 
Others are altogether accessory or accidental, having found their way 
into the economy in combination with the food that each living being is 
compelled to absorb for the promotion of its activity. 
Digestion, in elaborating the raw materials, makes a primary separa- 
tion ; a residuum is thrown out from the apparatus, consisting chiefly of 
particles undecoraposed and too large to enter into the circulation. 
Such of these accessory materials as find their way into the circula- 
tion, together with those needed by the economy, have now to passthrough 
a series of glands, or strainers, as it were ; by which they are arrested, 
or rather led in a special direction, sometimes being made subservient 
to a minor and secondary function of the organism, and at others being 
rapidly rejected from the economy as either useless or deleterious. 
In the gastric juice we find chloride of sodium, potassium, sulphu- 
ric, phosphoric, carbonic, and other acids,—to assist in decomposing the 
raw material of the food, while in the stomach or retort of the digestive 
apparatus. 
The minerals found in the blood are potassium, sodium, calcium, mag- 
nesium, iron, siliciurn, chlorine, sulphur, and phosphorus, together with 
carbonic acid. 
The blood in its passage through the hepatic gland yields siliciurn, 
phosphorus, and sulphur, in the form of acids; carbonic acid also. 
In passing through the renal glands, the blood gives off chlorine, and 
phosphoric and sulphuric acids. / 
The mammary glandsextractsulphuric, phosphoric, and carbonic acids. 
Such is the hasty and imperfect sketch of a chapter that would form, 
together with the one just proceeding, the subject of a book of the most 
vivid interest The doctrine of chemical equivalents is very intimately 
connected with it, and,in its application to therapeutical medecine, would 
furnish us with invaluable hints for the administration of medicaments in 
the pathological conditions of the organic fabric. 20 
A few words in reference to the white corpuscles of the blood are deemed 
in place. These also are cells ; but not primordial ones. They originate 
from protean cells, which, not having found their way out of thecapillary 
system of vessels, and consequently remaining in the liquor sanguinis, 
without any ulterior function to perform, outgrow their vital circle. The 
result of this state of things is their transformation into transparent cells, 
provided with several well defined nuclei. 
Morphologically speaking, therefore, the white corpuscles of the blood 
are genuine epilhelian cells. 
The preponderance in the blood of white corpuscles would indicate 
either an excess of protean cells (fibrine) or else a pathological condition 
of the system. This requires special therapeutical attention. 
The epithelian cells of the organic tissues we know to perform a tem- 
porary office or function; they afford either an outer or an inner lining 
and protective coating to several organs. They lead an ephemera] exist- 
ence; their prototypes are protean cells, brought through the usual chan- 
nels of the circulation to the organs where they occur. Epilhelian cells 
are constantly casted away from the external surface of the body, as like- 
wise from the internal mucous membranes. The life of these cells is 
rapid and brief; no sooner is their temporary office performed than they 
are removed from the animal fabric, by a direct act of the latter. 
Thus the epithelian cells of the blood (the white corpuscles) are re- 
moved from that liquid, in which they have no further end to attain, 
through the agency of the glands, or natural strainers: mucus and epi- 
thelium being met with in the gastric juice, saliva, bile, and urine. 
It is recorded in the text-books of physiology that lymph is formed in 
every part of the body, at the periphery or confine of all the organs, and 
that that lymph is carried back by a system of vessels, the lymphatics, 
into the general circulation. 
It is, indeed, a fact, that there are lymphatic vessels carrying lymph 
and pouring it into the venous system, as seen above. But to say that 
lymph is formed at the periphery of all the organs, is to imply that the 
body itself secretes or creates it, since no special organ for the secretion 
of this substance is found any where to exist. 
We will not venture to deny absolutely the power of the animal fabric 
to produce albumen, that is, to make it out of the oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen, coexisting within it; yet we cannot help thinking 
that such an act is not performed at the periphery of the tissues or or- 
gans. 
In the theory we have endeavored to unfold in these pages, this phe- 
nomenon of lymphatic circulation is to be accounted for in the following 
manner: 
The blood, or nutrient fluid, is composed of a given quantity of se- 
rum, the liquor sanguinis proper ; that serum being nothing else but albu- 
men diluted in water. The office of the liquor sanguinis, or serum, is 
to keep apart the protean cells, in other words to prevent the fibrine from 
agglomerating: a state of things towards which it is very prone. The 
passage of the protean cells (fibrine) through the walls of the capillaries is 
accompanied by the serum until they reach their location or destination 
beyond their reservoirs. When this is attained, the presence of the se- 
rum being no longer required,—since the protean cells are now incorpo- 
rated in the organs and tissues,—it dissolves: its watery element passes 
away; a portion in the shape of perspiration through the outer integu- 
ment, and another to lubricate the viscera and other organs requiring 
lubrication; whilst the albumen in the form of lymph is immediately 
absorbed and carried back, by the lymphatic vessels, into the venous 
blood, as already alluded to in speaking of the Jacteals and chyle, when 
the part which lymph (albumen) plays in the animal economy was tho- 
roughly examined, 
So important, indeed, is the office which albumen performs in the fab- 
ric, that we need not be surprised seeing a system of vessels peculiarly 
adapted for storing it up and keeping it in readiness for future wants. 
XIV. 
It is important now to show that the genesis of the system of circula- 
tion and of the nutrient fluid is consistent with the views which we have 
taken of the phenomena of physical life. 
There is a moment in the history of the embryo when circulation does 
not exist. That functionf being subordinate to others of a higher grade 
of importance, makes its appearance in a due time. 
The heart is the central organ of circulation; the heart will appear 
before the arteries and veins. Its first manifestation is a group of cells 
situated in that region of the body which it will ultimately occupy. This 
group of cells increases; the next step will show it subjected to isochronic 
contractions. Then its centre becomes hollow. No sooner is a cavity 
formed, than loose organic cells will appear in it, and henceforth remain 
under the exclusive control of the contractions of the heart, for such we 
must now call that cellular organ. Creek-like channels will next shoot 
off from this central organ, and the cells therein contained (which are nothing else but the primitive corpuscles of the blood) will be forced in- 
to these channels (the primitive arteries) at each systolic contraction; 
receding back into the heart at each diastole. This action keeps going 
on until the arteries reach the periphery of the system, when recurrent 
channels (the veins) are formed, bringing the cells back into the heart 
from a direction the opposite of that through which they proceeded forth. 
The system of circulation will, it is true, undergo some minor modifi- 
cations, contingent upon the full development of the various organs of the 
fabric; but, as such, it is complete, there existing a central organ which 
forces the fluid through a system of vessels towards the periphery of the 
organism, whence that fluid returns to the central organ through {mother 
system of vessels. 
So much for the genesis of the apparatus or reservoirs of the circu- 
lation. 
The primitive liquid which is put into circulation is essentially com- 
posed of organic cells, yielded by the embryonic mass itself,—of cells 
primordial in their nature, being the initial corpuscles of the blood or 
nourishing fluid. 
Thus, the genesis of the nutrient fluid. 
The analogy is complete; the corpuscles of the blood are organic cells. 
Meanwhile the organs of respiration are developing, and in due time 
the nutrient fluid is carried into them for the purpose of undergoing the 
process of respiration. What that process really is we have adverted to 
above. 
The vitellus is the substance prepared and stored up by the organism in 
view of a future being, which is, physically speaking, to be exclusively 
formed out of it. 
The fibrine is the substance prepared by the organism in view of the 
physical wants of the same new being after hatching; which is nourished, 
sustained, and increased in bulk out of it exclusively. 
The fibrine of the blood and the vitellus or yelk of the egg have es- 
sentially the same organic structure, effecting a similar end, performing 
a similar act, and accordingly having the same signification. 
The constituent parts of the yelk are the well known cells of the 
yelk, or vitelline cells. 
The constituent parts of the fibrine we have ascertained to be small 
cells. This fact has already been stated. 
The vitelline cells have, previous to fecundation, a state of repose, 
of quiescence, of complete rest; therefore they may easily be studied. The protean cells are in a state of constant activity and pron6* 
ness towards change, which makes it very difficult to observe them 
in their primitive condition; they remaining such only while floating 
in the liquor sanguinis. Again, their very dissemination in the liquor 
sanguinis is an obstacle in the way of getting hold of them. While 
undergoing the process of separation, they lose their primitive aspect; 
hence their identity with the vitelline cells does not strike one as 
quite so evident. 
While tracing the “Embryonic development of Planocera elliptic a 
we have figured and described a peculiar kind of white and transparent cells 
(already brought to notice, but misunderstood by former writers on em- 
bryology) under the name of “ floating cells,” from the circumstance of 
their being found freely floating in the midst of the albuminous zone sur- 
rounding the yelk or embryonic sphere. There is no doubt in our mind 
as to their true orgin: being genuine vitelline cells dropped from the vitel- 
line mass into the albumen, which cells upon their complete separation 
from the living sphere, remain with no further function to perform. Their 
innate organic power will soon exhaust itself; the consequence will 
be an expansion of their membrane and the outgrowth of their nuclei, 
thus becoming epithelian cells. 
“ Floating cells” may likewise be found in the centre of the vitellus 
during the period of its greatest effervescence, immediately prior to the 
first manifestation of the embryo. The vitellus at that time becoming hol- 
low, there are chances for some vitelline cells to lose their adherence ; 
and in falling into the cavity just formed, they will outgrow their activity. 
They may occasionally be seen emerging from the embryonic mass, and 
entering the albuminous zone around the yelk. 
cells” have been observed during the phases of the division 
(or cleavage) of the yelk; while those phases are going on, vitelline cells 
have a similar chance to separate from the general mass and undergo a 
premature development. 
So much for the embryonic “ floating cells.” Now, for the white cor- 
puscles of the blood; 
Such of the protean cells (fibrine) as are permitted to sojourn in the 
nourishing fluid beyond a given period without passing through the ca- 
pillary vessels, and thus prevented from performing the function for 
which they were prepared by the organic fabric, will now undergo the 
processof hasty and premature development, consisting in the extension of 
♦Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. New Series. 
Vol. 11, 1854, with three plates. their membrane and outgrowth of their nuclei—thus becoming epithelian 
cells. 
The structural resemblance between the “ floating cells” and the white 
corpuscles of the blood, as also between both of these and the epithelian 
cells of the organic tissues, is placed beyond any reasonable doubt. Con- 
sequently : 
The white corpuscles of the blood are wasted protean cells; 
The embryonic floating cells are wasted vitelline cells; 
And both, the white corpuscles of the blood and the embryonic floating 
cells, are truly epithelian in their nature. 
Again, the epithelian cells of the organic tissues are wasted organic 
cells. They are formed at the periphery of the organs or else along tire 
parietes of organic membranes. Unprotected on one side, and on the other 
in contact with the body of the organ in full activity, their growth is 
quickened and their vital power soon exhausted ; they become deciduous, 
fall, and are carried away through the natural channels of the fabric. 
Epithelian cells, however, are not altogether useless in the economy of 
living bodies; they afford a protective surface to several membranes and 
organs against the deleterious effects of the surrounding media. Upon 
the surface of some membranes they acquire vibrilla, which by their mo- 
tion promote the circulation of certain fluids. Even in some embryos, 
vibrilla may be observed upon given points of their periphery, which for 
a limited period perform the sole locomotory functions extant. 
The phenomenon of epithelian growth is a permanent and important 
function of the animal fabric; the epithelian cells themselves are tempo- 
rary and ephemeral, the nutrient fluid behind the tissues being always 
ready to supply their place when vacated. 
Nutrition is the ultimate word of physiology. The ultimate woid of 
physiology is,'in principle, the first word of therapeuthical medicine as a 
science. Without the avail of physiology, the latter is but an art. 
Surgery, or operative medicine, rests entirely upon anatomy. The 
better an organism is known to the operator, the better will his operations 
be performed. In the same sense, therefore, we may say that the ultimate 
word of anatomy is the first word of surgery ; and at the bottom of both, 
physiology and medicine both therapeuthical and operative, we meet with 
embryology. Practitioners all agree that a scrupulous attention is to be given to the 
temperaments in a therapeutical point of view. 
Temperaments have their essential cause in a qualitative difference in 
the solids and liquids which constitute the human frame, and not in a 
structural difference: the structure is identical in all individuals. Tem- 
peraments, therefore, belong to the domain of physiology. 
A temperament which is said to be phlegmatic or lymphatic, is 
owing to the presence in the circulation of a surplus of albumen, which 
renders the nutritive element defective and inadequate to fulfil its func- 
tions. 
By a protracted continuance of the lymphatic element in the system, 
the temperament becomes what is termed nervous. The organic fabric 
is sensitive and excitable, because of the defective and impoverished slate 
of the nutritive principle. 
The temperament termed sanguineous is brought about by a sur- 
plus of blood corpuscles and hence of fibrine. The nutritive element is 
overwhelmingly rich. 
By a long continuance of the sanguineous temperament, the latter be- 
comes bilious. A copious secretion of bile is the necessary consequence 
of such a state of things. It reaches its melancholic phase when a sur- 
plus of fatty matters is present in the system, by which the hepatic func- 
tion is rendered too laborious. A nervous phase may likewise follow, 
owing to the morbid condition of the phase just preceding. 
Thus temperament may be classed into two categories; 
First, Lymphatic, with a nervous phase. 
Second, Sanguineous, with three phases, a bilious, a melancholic, and 
a nervous. 
Physical bodies may be in a consumptive condition and unattended with 
any other disease. They may emaciate merely because the materials sup- 
plied are in a smaller proportion than the materials consumed. 
The general treatment to be followed speaks for itself. In a plain case 
of consumption resulting from the wasting away of a greater amount of 
organic matter than is actually elaborated by the animal fabric, prescribe 
a diet rich in albuminous and fatty substances. Should the digestive sys- 
tem lack tone, resort to tonics. 
So much for the supply of proper materials: but these have to be 
properly assimilated; and in case of failure of the fabric to do so, alcohols 
are to be added to carry the process through. 
To a lymphatic temperament let fatty substances predominate. 
When the temperament happens to be nervous, nervous stimulants, 
which are to be selected, will form a part of the treatment. 
A genuine sanguineous temperament is not apt to be consumptive. 26 
But when the latter reaches its bilious phase, acid draughts may be 
given: the system, however, is not prone towards consumption. 
During the melancholic phase of the sanguineous temperaments the diet 
should be more of an albuminous than oleaginous character, adding 
tonics, especially when a tendency towards a nervous phase becomes 
evident. 
The phthisis pulmonalis is generated by the disposition, in the organs 
of respiration, of amorphic or unorganized substances contained in the 
nutrient fluid, such as lymph or more properly albumen. The tubercular 
deposit is assisted by a residuum of the exuvias of the red corpuscles, 
brought about by an imperfect combustion, which failed in reducing the 
latter into volatile elements to be expelled through the natural channels of 
these organs. 
The chief causes of this disease, therefore, reside in an imperfectly 
assimilated food, combined with a deficiency of combustible elements. 
Both of these causes may act simultaneously, or either one of them 
alone. 
There are cases of consumption accompanied by collateral diseases. 
One branch of the elaborating system may be diversely affected by lesions 
or obstructions; a peculiar organ may be defective in its development or 
the performance of its functions; and many other causes of disturbance 
may exist. All these are to be treated as special diseases, according to 
special methods, which shall in no way conflict with the general treatment 
pertinent to genuine consumption. 
A large field of research is here thrown open to chemists, physiolo- 
gists, and physicians. Many inquiries and problems, not yet understood, 
will surely be answered by careful investigations and a sound apprecia- 
tion of facts. APPENDIX. 
It is a sufficiently well known fact that the general views held respect- 
ing the animal kingdom as a whole, actually divide naturalists into two 
camps. 
There are those who regard it as constituting one uninterrupted series, 
beginning with the polyp and ascending to man; 
And those who subdivide it into four primary, parallel, distinct, and 
unconnected groups or series. 
These questions are not without importance : they approach near to 
the designs of the creation, both physical and moral. 
They will chiefly find a solution in the geological history of our planet 
and partly also, in the anatomical investigation of existing faunas. 
Led by the observations which precede into a comparative study of the 
various apparatus which constitute the animal fabric, we have sketched 
out the following programme for further investigations. 
In tracing out the history of each apparatus as laid down beneath, we 
shall be in possession of the very data which are demanded fox the satis- 
factory solution of this much disputed scheme. 
PRODROMES OF A PHILOSOPHIC GENERAL ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 
I. Digestive system and its dependencies. 
A. Alimentation;—morphology -of its apparatus in : 
1. Radiata. 
2. Mollusca. 
3. Articulata. 
4. Vertebrata. 
a. Mastication. 
b. Deglutition. 
c. Digestion. 
d. Chymification. 
e. Chylification. 
/. Nutrient fluid. 
B. Circulation :—morphology of its apparatus in: 
1, Radiata. 
2, Mollusca. 
3. Articutala, 
4. Vertebrata. 28 
a. Nutrient fluid circulating as; 
a, Chyme. 
Chyle, 
c. Blood. 
B. Lymphatic system and lymph. 
C. Respiration:—morphology of its apparatus in t 
1. Radiata, 
2. Mollusca, 
3. Articulata, 
4. Vertebrata. 
x. Branchial respiration. 
B. Pulmonary respiration. 
y. Branchial and pulmonary respiration in coexistence. 
E. Nutrition similar in the whole animal kingdom. 
E. Reproduction:—morphology of the sexual organs in s 
1. Radiata. 
2. Mollusca. 
3. Articulata. 
4. Vertebrata, 
8. Spennaries. | Theit structures and funclions 
G. Glands and Secretions:—morphology of their structure in •* 
1. Radiata. 
2. Mollusca, 
3. Articulata, 
4. Vertebrata, 
«, Secretions for local purposes and wants of the individual. 
a. Salivary glands and saliva, connected with mastication 
and deglutition. 
b. Gastric glands and juice. } 
c. Pancreatic gland and fluid V Connected with digestion, 
d. Hepatic gland and bile, ) 
e. Mucous glands and fluid, 
/. Lachrymal glands and tears. 
B. Secretions for the perpetuation of the species. 
a. Ovaries and ova—office of the female. 
b. Spermaries and spermatic particles—office of the male. 
c. Mammary glands, and milk temporarily secreted by the 
female. 
y. Secretions rejected as useless. 
a. Faeces—-generally in a solid state. 
b. Urine—in a liquid state. 
c. Perspiration—in a state of vapor, 
d. Carbonic acid—in a state of gas 29 
11. Nervous system and organs of sensesmorphology in 
1. Radiata. 
2. Mollusca, 
3. Articulata. 
4. Vertebrata. 
a. Encephalon. 
a. Olfactory nerve and organ of smell. 
b. Optic nerve and organ of sight. 
c. Auditory nerve and organ of hearing. 
d. Nerves and organ of taste. 
e. Other nerves of the encephalon. 
/S. Spinal chord and spinal nerves. 
y. Sympathetic nerve. 
£ Corpuscles of Pacini. 
f Sense of the touch. 
111. Osseous system. 
Bony frame of Vertebrata, 
IV. Calcareous and horny systems in i 
1. Radiata. 
2. Mollusca. 
3. Articulata. 
4. Vertebrata, 
V. Muscular system : its morphology in i 
1. Radiata. 
2. Mollusca. 
3. Articulata. 
4. Vertebrata. 
VI. Organs of movement, and locomotion in i 
1, Radiata. 
2. Mollusca. 
3. Articulata. 
4. Vertebrata. 
VII. Histologymicroscopic structure. 
VIII. Embryology. 
a. History of the egg prior to its maturity. 
b. History of spermatic particles prior to their maturity 
c. Fecundation. 
d. Formation and development of the embryo in : 
1. Radiata. 
2. Mollusca. 
3. Articulata. 
4. Vertebrata,