g, Melsens, and Panum think, the fact is indisputable that a globule of fat does envelope itself in a coating of albumen, and thus presents what may be accepted as at least the analogue of the nucleus of a cell, when we remember that fat is an invariable constituent of the nuclei of all cells animal and vegetable. So that on the one hand we see a globule of fat has the property of enveloping itself in an albuminous coating, which envelope becomes coagulated by the addition of a little water, and thus forms a membranous pellicle for the globule ; and on the other hand we see that the nuclei of all cells are globules of fat.
Another indication : The nutritive Chyle is white and opaque, from the presence of innumerable particles of fatty matter of exceedingly minute yet uniform size. They constitute the molecular base of Chyle. Their fatty nature is beyond doubt, and the reason of their not running together to form larger drops, as particles of pure oil would, is by many physiologists believed to be because each molecule is coated with albumen. Note moreover, that, except these molecules of fatty matter, the Chyle contains no solid or organized substances. The fluid in which they float is albuminous. As the Chyle passes onwards to the thoracic duct the quantity of molecules and oily particles gradually diminishes, and cells are developed in it, to which the name of Chyle corpuscles is given.
The process may therefore be thus conceived : A fatty globule surrounds itself with an albuminous pellicle constituting a nucleus, which again in its turn surrounds itself with a cell-wall, and this " sphere within sphere" is necessary to the completion of the organic condition ; showing, both in respect of Form as in respect of Element, how complexities of function follow upon complexities of structure. Thus the reproductive cell is more than a vesicle. It is a vesicle containing a vesicle, which also contains—I will not say a vesicle, for that is not proved—but at any rate an orbicle ; and in cell, nucleus, and nucleolus, we have a triple sphericity of substances having a physicochemical differentiation. But it is not the spherical Form alone, nor the proximate principles alone, which constitutes vitality—it is the union of the two.
This point need not be further pursued—we must await more accurate knowledge before attempting to determine what are the details of the process ; my object is attained if I have made clear to the reader's mind that --
The passage from the inorganic to the organic is a triple process of differentiation—1. Of Elements; 2. Of Synthesis ; 3. Of Form ; and the union of " higher multiples" (in certain determinate conditions named " proximate principles") with " Spherical Form," is the final step which determines vitality.
The differences, important and minute, which we observe in the myriad phenomena of Organic Life, depend upon minute and important differences in the Synthesis of the Elements and in the Form ; every new addition brings with it a new complexity, for every statical difference carries with it a dynamic difference ; and thus in an `ascending series of evolutions from the simple to the complex, from the anorganic to the merorganic, from the merorganic to the teleorganic, from the simplest stages of the teleorganic to those highly complex manifestations seen in the finest organizations, we learn to gather the phenomena of the universe into one majestic Whole, and learn that all lines of demarcation are subjective only. In a word we learn that Life is an evolution, not a separate creation, and is thus essentially connected with the great Life of the Universe.
No thinking man will imagine anything is explained by this. The great mystery of Life and Being remains as inaccessible as ever. But a grander conception of Nature as one Whole, and a more philosophic attitude of mind, in contemplating the varieties of that whole, will result from the restitution of the homogeneity of Nature, when we learn with Goethe, Schelling, and Coleridge, to see Life everywhere, and nowhere Death.
Be that as it may, I think