THE ORIGIN OF THE BACILLARIA 



By ARTHUR M. EDWARDS. M. D. 



What is the origin of the Bacillaria? Or, in short how do the 

 Diatomaceae begin? Do the come from seed or ova which are invi- 

 sibile? The seed or ova must be invisible under a magnifying power 

 of i65o diameters, for that has been uscd to look for them and 

 without finding them. And a good lens has been used, a i-ió th 

 immersion of Leitz manufacture. 



In 1840 or 1841 I was shown Bacillaria by means of the mi- 

 croscope, a microscope, which is in my possession now. It had be- 

 longed to a Mr Smith, my grandfather, the brother of Sir James 

 Edward Smith, the founder and first president of the Linnean So- 

 ciety. It was shown me by my good mother. She showed me some 

 living « inlusoria » by means of it. They were got from a pound 

 near by and were common Navicula, I remember, and swimming 

 about in a lively manner. I was told that they were animals, for 

 so they were thought to be then. Of course the stomachs were the 

 clear spaces that occurred in them. But they did not have mouths 

 or intestines. The power used was not high enough to show them. 

 But ali of this was told me. I soon after learned to collect and ob- 

 serve them myself, and then I began to look for eggs or ova. In 

 fact I looked for how they propagated. I have veiwed them thou- 

 sands of times and always looking for eggs or ova. At last I carne 

 to know them as vegetables, and them I looked for seeds. Lately, or 



