THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



to the subject in this country \ He has lately made 

 more decisive observations by an examination of the 

 rain collected in one of the low, unhealthy parts of 

 Liverpool, and also at Everton on the outskirts of the 

 city. He says^: — <^ On examining the rain which had 

 fallen in both these localities, I found, naturally 

 enough, no animal or plant germs in that from the 

 lower part of the town, although it was highly charged 

 with soot and various kinds of dirt. But in that which 

 had been collected near my house, 1 found on the same 

 day a few of the unicellular organisms as before, some 

 single, others undergoing subdivisions j also a little soot 

 and silex.' Subsequently the corpuscles were seen to 

 develop and give rise to a fungus mycelium. Then, 

 again. Dr. Braxton Hicks states ^ that he has frequently 

 found bodies resembling the gonidia of Lichens in 

 snow and rain ; whilst Ehrenberg has described many 

 forms of Diatoms which have from time to time de- 

 scended in atmospheric showers'*. 



^ See ' Compt. Rend.' 1863, t. Ivii. p. 87. 



^ 'Quart. Jrnl. of Sc' Oct. 1870, p. 496. 



' Appendix D, p. liv. note 3. 



* See his ' Passatstaub und Blutregen.' Speaking of ' red snow,' Burdach 

 (^t.i.p. 37) cites the following opinions as to its nature andmode of origin: — 

 ' La neige rouge qu'on a quelquefois trouvee dans les regions arctiques et 

 sur de hautes montagnes, est suivant Agardh, le Protococcus hermewins, 

 Algue, du plus has degre, qui se compose de-.vesicules pleines d'une sub- 

 stance mucilagineuse et grenue, et contenant de la rdsine, avec d'autres 

 matieres v^getales. Cette Algue adhere aux pierres ou a la neige, de 

 sorte que le vent ne peut point I'entrainer. Agardh pense que le Proto- 

 coccus est engendr^ par Taction de la lumifere solaire sur la neige fond- 

 ante (" Nov. Act. Nat. Cur." t, xii. p. 746). Mais les observations de 



