THE BEGINNINGS OF IIFE. 32 1 



one another.' M. Trecul adds : — ' It is important to note 

 that I did not find any of these little organisms dispersed 

 through the liquid iiihich surrounded the laticiferous 'ves- 

 sels.^ To account for the presence of the organisms 

 under such circumstances, only two suppositions seem 

 possible. As M. Tre'cul says :— ^ Either they are born 

 from germs proceeding from v/ithout, or else they pro- 

 ceed from a modification of the elements of the latex. 

 If they owe their origin to pre-existing germs, how 

 are these germs introduced by thousands throughout the 

 whole length of vessels filled with a dense fluid so 

 consistent as to be no longer able to flow, and to such 

 an extent as completely to substitute themselves in the 

 place of the juice itself? How can one conceive, whilst 

 admitting such an invasion of germs, that small islets 

 of latex should have remained intact here and there, 

 and should have been able to resist this invasion which 

 pressed round them on all sides ? Is it not at least as 

 probable that these organisms may have been born 

 from a transformation of the latex?' 



In a subsequent communication made in Septem- 

 ber, 1865, M. Trecul^ reported that he had con- 

 firmed the results previously arrived at by fresh obser- 

 vations upon similar plants, and also upon others 

 belonging to diflFerent families. In one of these, Ficus 

 carica^ he had even discovered similar starch-bearing 

 fungoid organisms within the completely closed cells of 

 the medullary tissue, — a fact which seemed to make 



^ ' Compt. Rend.' t. Ixi. p. 432. 

 VOL. II. Y 



