THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 145 



crystalline matter. And, similarly, new conditions pro- 

 bably operate upon living forms, only so long as they 

 are capable of inducing new molecular combinations 

 and modes of activity. It is therefore to be expected 

 that new-born organic forms should remain constant so 

 long as we have to do with the same fluids under un- 

 altered conditions. 



Since it is well known that Bacteria and Torul^ may 

 frequently be seen to grow in the same solution, we 

 are compelled to believe that some minute difference 

 in the constitution of their ultimate units does exist, 

 and that each has the power of causing, during its acts 

 of growth, the synthesis of similar units of living matter. 

 The occurrence of one or of the other form is, there- 

 fore, not always nor wholly attributable to mere differ- 

 ence of 'conditions' — it must be mostly due to an 

 actual, though minute, difference in the molecular con- 

 stitution of the initial units of living matter. For 

 although the same crystalline matter under the influ- 

 ence of different conditions may assume different crys- 

 talline forms, it is much more common for different 

 crystallizable compounds to aggregate into different 

 geometrical forms. 



It must, moreover, be quite familiar to all who 

 have had much experience in this particular line of 

 research, that Torula frequently exist in abundance in 

 certain solutions, and yet show no signs of developing 

 into Fungi. Discontinuous growth goes on rather than 

 continuous growth. So much is this the case, that it 



VOL. II. L 



