Abstract
THE author of this small book is one of the editors of a work on Pathology, by Dr. John Fletcher, of Edinburgh, whose “Rudiments of Physiology” contains much speculative biology of no mean quality. As a disciple he enters into an analysis of the philosophy of his master, discussing its details in connection with the. light thrown upon it by modern research, especially the bioplasm theory of Beale. Fletcher argued thus:-The peculiar property, vitality, does not reside in the tissues of the living body indiscriminately, but in one anatomical element alone; because, as the various tissues differ extremely in their physical properties, and these latter are almost exactly the same after as before death, it is hardly to be expected that the living matter can rearrange itself on death, in a short time, into a number of different forms, which shall possess exactly the same physical properties in the vital as in the ordinary state of combination. The concordance of this idea with the theory of Dr. Beale, which divides all tissues into a living forming material (bioplasm), and a dead formed material, the composition of the latter of which alone varies to any extent, must be evident to all; and the working out of its minutiae occupies several chapters of the work before us. The author also enters fully into the muscle and nerve theory of Dr. Beale in a manner which we do not think will throw much light on either subject. He remarks that the insulating power of the medullary sheath of the nerve-fibre is not demonstrable, therefore “the nerves are not fitted for simple conduction of electric currents; and these have no reason to choose the nerves as their channels, so they spread through the moist tissues almost uniformly.” With this opinion we think there. are few or no physiologists who will agree, as there is not the least doubt that it is through nerve-fibres that electric stimulation will most readily and most powerfully affect muscular fibres at a distance; otherwise, what is the peculiar value of the “nerve-muscle preparation” of the physiological laboratory? In his remark that Dr. Sanderson is premature in arguing with regard to the Dionæa “that because the contraction of the plant-leaf depends on changes, apparently in the contents of the cells, the muscular contraction of the higher animals is of the same nature,” the author is, we think, more fortunate; we have never been able to see that the two phenomena have anything in common. From the consideration of the less speculative protoplasmic theory of the origin of tissues, such points as the nature of life, the connection of force with life and mind, consciousness, and materialism, subjects beyond the pale of precise knowledge, are treated of in a manner which will quite repay perusal by those who are fond of speculating on those precarious topics.
The Protoplasmic Theory of Life.
John
Drysdale
By (Baillière, Tyndall, and Cox, 1874.)
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
The Protoplasmic Theory of Life . Nature 10, 519 (1874). https://doi.org/10.1038/010519a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/010519a0