OK PUTREFACTIVE ORGANISMS. 89 



break up the organic matter into simpler forms. In the 

 case of the saprophytes, water and carbonic acid were 

 produced eventually from the decaying mass on which they 

 dwell, and thus by the vital functions of these organisms 

 the chemical elements in the animal body were restored to 

 nature, to become once more part of the protoplasm of living 

 things. There were, however, two things in which these 

 saprophytic ferments were different from ordinary ferments ; 

 in the latter a sj^ecial organism produces a special product, 

 whereas in the former there was no such definite product, 

 and in the saprophytic ferment the final process, was i^ro- 

 duced, not by one definite organism, but by a series of 

 organisms. He did not think that these ferments destroyed 

 one another ; but between the beginning and the end of the 

 putrefaction there was a definite incoming and disappear- 

 ance of many forms. In from 50° to 60° north latitude, he 

 believed these organisms were limited to ten forms, and of 

 these eight were definitely determined, and their life-history 

 made out. There were some present everywhere, and they 

 acted at once. Dr. Dallinger said the object of his study 

 was biological, and not pathological. Some of the results 

 he discovered some time ago, but the large progress of 

 recent years was due to the great improvements in our 

 instruments. These organisms were all different, no two 

 of them behaved alike. He said that if they added a very 

 small quantity of putrescent fluid to a speck of Avater on a 

 slide kept at 65° F., it was very easy to find some of these 

 organisms almost directly, using a lens magnifying 1,00<) 

 diameters ; and they would be found to increase with a 

 rapidity that no description could suggest. He then showed 

 on the screen the first kind of organism that appears, and 

 mentioned that when seen in reality, they were in a constant 

 state of movement, and that the saprophytic ferment begins 



