16 ORIGIN OF LOWEST ORGANISMS. 



ever, is forthcoming, which may speak independently 

 in favour of the doctrine of Heterogenesis. 



It has been affirmed by Crivelli and Maggi * that 

 they have actually seen the particles within granular 

 epithelial cells (taken from the back of the tongue of 

 a patient suffering from diabetes) grow and elongate, 

 so as to give rise to Bacteria, or fuse in longitudinal 

 series, so as to form a Vibrio. \ And, moreover, as 

 I have myself ascertained, if one takes healthy- 

 looking epithelial scales scraped from the inside of 

 the mouth, which appear to contain nothing but the 

 finest granules, and places them with a little saliva 

 in a " live-box " (and this within a damp chamber kept 

 at a temperature of about 90 Fahr.), in the course 

 of from 5 to 10 hours, the cells may be found to be 

 studded throughout with motionless Bacteria. Of 

 course it may be said that the granules originally 

 seen in the cells were offcasts from pre-existing 

 Bacteria\ which had gained access to the cell. 



* Rendiconti del R. Istit. Lombardo, Ser. II. Vol. i, p. 11. 



t However novel such a mode of origin of independent Bac- 

 teria and Vibriones may appear to some, it will seem much less 

 strange and unlikely to others who have seen, as I have done, an 

 Amceba, or an Actinophrys^fee. body, originate from the pro- 

 gressive molecular modifications taking place in a mass of 

 chlorophyll and protoplasm within the filament of an alga. 

 Many independent observers have watched all the stages of this 

 process, and some have even seen Ciliated Infusoria originate 

 by such a metamorphic change. 



J Or offcasts from pre-existing fungi, constituting the "micro- 

 cocci" of Professor Hallier. 



