Vibrionia ] infusorial ANlMALcriES. 177 



life), of wliicli one may readily convince himself, and wliicli Tritschc 

 has, with his well knuwn accuracy, shown to be the case in a great 

 number of plants." (Sec Dr. Lancaster's translation, p. 99 and 359.) 

 This assertion of Schleiden, that tincture of iodine is an absolute 

 poison for aU animal and vegetable life, must be received with re- 

 serve, since animalcular life has been knoAvn to exist in agents, such 

 as strong acids, and mineral poisons, which, a fHori would appear 

 quite as inimical to it as tincture of iodine ; and even m i n ute animals 



the acari, of far higher organization than the polygastrica, have 



been stated to preserve life in strong acetic acid. 



Before dismissing this subject, it may be useful to append some 

 observations made by "Wagner and Leuckhart, in their elaborate and 

 original article before quoted. 



Having remarked that up to the most recent period, the so-named 

 spermatozoa of animals have been considered as independent animal 

 organisms, or parasitical animals, and classified among the Infusoria, 

 the authors proceed to say that such assumption is perfectly irrecon- 

 cileable with our present knowledge of these bodies, based as it is, 

 principally upon the discoveries of E. Wagner, Von Siebold and 

 KoUiker. With our present means of scientific diagnosis it can be 

 proved that the formations in. qiiestion are mere elementary consti- 

 tuents of the animal organization like the ova ; constituents equally 

 as necessary for the spermatic fluid as the blood globules are for the 

 blood. The remarkable phenomena of the life of spermatozoa are 

 quite analagous to those phenomena of motion, observable not only in 

 animal formations, but also in vegetable structiu'es, as, for instance, 

 in the spores of algae, and of the lower species of fungi, in the so- 

 termed vibrmies which grow out into the fibres of the conferva called 

 Hygrocrocis.''^ 



Again, " an unprejudiced observation will prove that the sperma- 

 tozoa are every where void of a special organization, and consist of 

 an uniform homogenous substance, which exhibits, when examined 

 by the microscope, a yellow amber-like glitter. The opinion of an 

 internal organization of the developed animal elements was not a 

 little supported by the various remarkable phenomena of motion 

 which were frequently perceived in them. In former times, when 

 people had no idea of the existence and extent of the so-called auto- 



