MISCELLANY. 



253 



would sometimes dally about the entrance 

 for a while, but eventually would venture 

 in and push open the closed end of the net ; 

 this then closed, and the animalcule was a 

 prisoner. In this way various minute ani- 

 mals water-bear, daphnia, cyclops, cypris 

 were seen to enter the chamber of death. 

 No sooner was the victim within, than it 

 manifested alarm, drew in its feet and an- 

 tennae, and closed its shell. After death 

 the shell unclosed again, displaying the feet 

 and antennae. Not one was ever seen to 

 escape. But, now, how was the observer 

 to know that these animals became the 

 food of the plant ? This question occupied 

 the author for several days. If it could 

 be proved that the contents of the bladders 

 were carried directly into the circulation 

 of the plant, the problem was solved. The 

 cells were, in many instances, of a red color, 

 and in all such cases it was observed that 

 the stem at the point where the bladder 

 grew was of the same color. It thus looks 

 " as if a red fluid was carried from the blad- 

 ders into the main stem, which is not spe- 

 cifically the fact, so far as the observations 

 yet made determine, though the main point, 

 that the contents of the bladders are car- 

 ried into the circulation, does not seem open 

 to question." 



Darwinism by Destent. Mr. Darwin, 

 many people know, has an hereditary claim 

 to the apostolate of the doctrine of evolu- 

 tion ; but Dr. Erasmus Darwin's poems 

 have long ceased to be read by the multi- 

 tude, and it is not so well known how close- 

 ly his philosophical creed tallies with that 

 of his accompUshed grandson. As an ex- 

 ample, however, we take the following pas- 

 sage from " The Economy of Vegetation : " 



" Organic life beneath the shoreless waves 

 Was born and nursed in Ocean's pearly caves. 

 First forms minute, unseen by spheric glass, 

 Move on the mud or pierce the watery mass ; 

 These, as successive generations bloom, 

 New powers acquire, and larger limbs assume, 

 Whence countless groups of vegetation spring. 

 And breathing realms of fln, and feet, and wing." 



In a note combating the " prejudices " 

 against the doctrine of spontaneous vital 

 production. Dr. Darwin holds that " there 

 is more dignity in our idea of the Supreme 

 Author of all things, when we conceive him 

 to be the cause of causes, than the cause 



simply of the events which we see ; " and 

 further on intimates the unlikelihood of the 

 larger and more complicated animals being 

 thus produced, as they " have acquired 

 their present perfection by successive gen- 

 erations during an uncounted series of 

 ages." Iron. 



Antiseptics and Infasorial Life. M. 



Parmille points out that, according to the 

 investigations of Calvert and others, char- 

 coal, lime, and permanganate of potash, 

 contrary to the received opinion, facilitate 

 rather than hinder putrefactive changes, 

 and actually favor the formation of animal- 

 cules. Charcoal, when employed for the 

 purification of water, undoubtedly absorbs 

 offensive gases, and removes dissolved fla- 

 voring and coloring matters. But upon 

 living animalcules and their germs it has no 

 destructive effect if any thing, rather pro- 

 moting their development. Water contain- 

 ing a known amount of " albuminoid am- 

 monia," when experimentally filtered over 

 animal charcoal, has been found, on analy- 

 sis, worse than before. M. Danaim found 

 that treatment with charcoal increased the 

 poisonous qualities of putrid blood ; the 

 explanation offered being that absorption 

 of the gases dissolved in the liquid removed 

 an obstacle to the development of the in- 

 fusoria. Permanganate of potash is like- 

 wise without effect on living organisms, 

 although it rapidly destroys the dead or- 

 ganic matter. The author considers car- 

 bolic, or, better still, cresylic acid, as the 

 only agent which extirpates these animal- 

 cules. 



Tenacity of Life in the Wlieel Aninial- 

 enle. It has been asserted that the wheel 

 animalcule {Rotifer vulgaris) may be re- 

 stored to life by the application of moist- 

 ture, after having been dried up, and to all 

 appearance dead. This subject has been in- 

 vestigated by Prof. Leidy, and his results 

 show that there is a very definite limit to 

 the tenacity of life in these minute animals. 

 Two glass slides, containing, beneath cov- 

 er-glasses, some dirt, exhibited each about 

 twelve living rotifers. After exposure to 

 the sun's rays, the temperature being 80, for 

 half an hour, the moisture on the slide was 

 dried up. The next morning water was ap- 



