THE MONERA AND ARCHIGONY. 343 



formerly and generally believed to exist between organic 

 and inorganic bodies is almost or entirely removed, and the 

 way is paved for the conception of spontaneous generation. 



Of still greater, nay, the very greatest importance to the 

 hypothesis of spontaneous generation are, finally, the exceed- 

 ingly remarkable Monera, those creatures which we have 

 already so frequently mentioned, and which are not only the 

 simplest of all observed organisms, but even the simplest of 

 all imaginable organisms. I have already described these 

 wonderful "organisms without organs," when examining 

 the simplest phenomena of propagation and inheritance. 

 We already know seven different genera of these Monera, 

 some of which live in fresh water, others in the sea (com- 

 pare above, p. 184 ; also Plate I. and its explanation 

 in the Appendix). In a perfectly developed and freely 

 motile state, they one and aU present us with nothing but a 

 simple little lump of an albuminous combination of carbon. 

 The individual genera and species differ only a little in the 

 manner of propagation and development, and in the way of 

 taking nourishment. Through the discovery of these organ- 

 isms, which are of the utmost importance, the supposition 

 of a spontaneous generation loses most of its difficulties. 

 For as all trace of organization — all distinction of hetero- 

 geneous parts — is still wanting in them, and as all the vital 

 phenomena are performed by one and the same homogeneous 

 and formless matter, we can easily imagine their origin by 

 spontaneous generation. If this happens through plas- 

 riiogeny, and if plasma capable of life already exists, it 

 then only needs to individualize itself in the same way as 

 the mother liquor of crystals individualizes itself in crys- 

 tallization. If, on the other hand, the spontaneous generation 



