Note 16 — Chapter IV · THE MORPHOLOGICAL COMPOSITION OF ANIMALS.

Since this paragraph was published in 1865, much has been learned concerning cell-structure, as is shown in Chapter VIA of Part I. While some assert that there exist portions of living protoplasm without nuclei, others assert that a nucleus is in every case present, and that where it does not exist in a definite aggregated form it exists in a dispersed form. As remarked in the chapter named, “the evidence is somewhat strained to justify this dogma.” Words are taken in their non-natural senses, if one which connotes an individualized body is applied to the widely-diffused components of such a body; and this perverting of proper meanings leads to obscuration of what may perhaps be an essential truth. As argued in the chapter named (§§ 74e, 74f), nuclear matter is, as shown by its chemical character, an extremely unstable substance, the molecular changes of which, perpetually going on, initiate shocks, producing changes all around. In the earlier stages of cell-evolution this unstable substance is dispersed throughout the cytoplasm; whereas in the more advanced stages it is gathered together in one mass. If so, instead of saying there is a dispersed nucleus we should say there are the materials of a nucleus not yet integrated.