Memoir of the late Martin Barry, M.D., F.R.SS.L. and E.

Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memoir of the late Martin Barry, M.D., F.R.SS.L. and E. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    MKMOlU OF UK .MAUI IN UAUUY. aware of tlie value ol these discoveries, in llieir ajijilicatioii to enibrj'ological research, in an appendix to the third of his nu^inoiiiitf n that sulijwt. lie also tveij^jJjiydi farther IjL^.is cjqss ami^^i^ceived that he ha<i heeir fSVtWate'enoHglu^^^ii^^^ atT% w and important (Amclusions with respect to the natvire and functions of the cell nucleus, and the intimate structure of the muscular and oti^r fibres of the animal body. In the end of 1840, and iu 18J1; Dr Jiany presen,t*4|l^to the Royal Society tlirec memoirs on the corpus^^^^ikh^'blood, in w^ich, besides a consitlerable amount of «)bservations on tltese elementary structures, he brought forward new and speculative views as to their origin and relations to the other organised parts of tiie body. He endeavoured to show that the blood corpuscles are derived from or are the descendants of the nucleus of the oriainal germ-cell, and of its progeny of cells, that they are capable of multiplicatii n by division of their nuclei in the endogenous tn'anncr, and that they, the blood corpuscles, are the source of all the organiseil textural elements and formed t«‘xtures <if the animal body. Ill the end of the same year (.8d December 1841), Dr Barry presented to the Royal .Societyanotherhistoh'gii jdmemoir, entitled, ‘•On I'ihre,” hut which,ns he himself stales, was intended rather as a continuation of those on the coiputcles of the blood, than a* the history of a distinct series of investigations; and it was in this memoir that he first brought forward as the result of his micro- scopic observations, those views as to the spiral structure of the mus(.'iilar fibre, the blood corpuscle, and, iijik-ed, alt the textural elements of organised holies, which engaged the greatest share of his attentiiiu during tlie latter years of his life, and on whicli he seemed more disposed to rest his ciiaractcr as a scientific observer and iliscovercr than on any other part of his Inhours. The whole of Dr Barry’s memoirs may Ire said to be ja-rvaded by a tendency to speculation, and by a fixed determination to bring all his observations under a novel and philos'ipliical system of ihs'trine ; this tendency seems to have become stronger in the <ourse of his rctcarchts, and to have ^hown itsedf more and more ajtpareutly as his attention became more .•\bsorl«'il in the observation of the organic cell and its nucleus. Attiacted by the npiiarent universjility of the laws of cellular growth which had been advanced by Schleideii and .Schwann, he had already conceived that lie h.-.d made the important discovery that the first rudiment of the hoily of the embryo jiroceeds directly from the linear extension of the nucleus of one of the cells descended from his “ germ- cell,” a view totally unsupported by, an.l at vaiiance w ith, nil (.thcr ohj^ervations on the emne subject. .\nd there can be little doubt t!..at. as he proceeded with his histological researches, the speculative view gained far too great a ))i-edominance over the iUdui-tivc or matter of fact character of the results to lie deduced from his observations. After a continued, chwe apjdication to these micrtscopic researches, from 1837 to 5843, Dr Burry feil into had healtli, and his sigiit was so much injured, that he was obliged, even after the partial recovery of his general hcaltli, for several years altogether to abstain fiom the use of the micro>cope. It may reasonahiy lx; supposed th.at, with a miml so active as Dr Barry’s, ami so intent upon founding a new histological system, the circumsiauce must have had considerable elTect in giving preponderance in his latest papers to tlie specu- lative element. While Dr Barry adopted in a great measure the views of Schiciden and Schwann as to the cellular origin of the textures, he conceived that he had made an imjiortant addition to, ami correction of. their views, in calling attention to the activity of the nucleus of the cell as a productive agent. Adopting a term i-uggebteu by I’rofessor Owen, he denominated the substance of the nucleus “ hyaline,” an<l he came to the belief that in every species of growth or production, it is by descent from, or by division of, n portion of this hyaline-nucleus that tho new parts first take their origin ; and that in this VOL. I.—.NO. I. at t.T 185.''.. M