The Life of the Fly 



comes so great that, for lack of a support, the 

 worms perish by drowning in the broth; they 

 are suffocated by the immersion of their hind- 

 part, with its open breathing-holes. On a 

 denser liquid, they would have kept at the sur- 

 face; on this, they cannot. 



A control-tube, filled in the same way, but 

 not colonized, stands beside that in which the 

 strange liquefaction takes place. The hard- 

 boiled white of egg retains its original ap- 

 pearance and consistency. In course of time, 

 it dries up, if it does not turn mouldy; and 

 that is all. 



The other quaternary compounds perform- 

 ing the same functions as albumen — the 

 gluten of cereals, the fibrin of blood, the 

 casein of cheese and the legumin of chick- 

 peas — undergo a similar modification, in 

 varying degrees. Fed, from the moment of 

 leaving the egg, on any one of these sub- 

 stances, the worms thrive very well, provided 

 that they escape drowning when the gruel 

 becomes too clear; they would not fare better 

 on a corpse. And, as a general rule, there is 

 not much danger of going under: the matter 

 only half-liquefies; it becomes a running pea- 

 soup, rather than an actual fluid. 



Even in this imperfect case, it is obvious 

 228 



