THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 477 



smaller globules, which, in their turn, subdivide into 

 others smaller still. This division, on account of its 

 necessarily rendering the different detached portions 

 lighter, leads to their circulation. Each new globule, 

 carried away by the general movement, describes an 

 ellipse, whose length is inversely proportionate to the 

 size of the corpuscle. But whilst the different corpuscles, 

 which are natural to the liquid, follow the current with- 

 out turning upon their axes, the others, by virtue of their 

 primitive rotation — a movement which has not been 

 destroyed by the process of segmentation — move under 

 the double influence of rotation and of circulation. . . . 

 As the process of segmentation advances, so does the 

 nature of the matter constituting the globules seem to 

 alter. The granulation, which was at first superficial 

 and irregular, becomes internal and regular; the re- 

 fraction, which at the commencement was inferior to 

 that of water, becomes equal and then superior to it. 

 In some globules this matter seems to isolate itself 

 from the surface, and to form centrally a kind of 

 nucleus, variable and irregular, but always having 

 rounded angles, whilst the surface remaining, as it 

 were, suspended, takes on the appearance of a thin 

 layer. ... If, in this stage, a cell is emptied upon 

 a slip of glass, in order to examine its contents, it may 

 be perceived that these latter corpuscles have become 

 vesicles full of a glutinous liquid, colourless and very 

 transparent, in the centre of which is a mass of denser 

 material of a granulated texture, elastic, whitish, and 



