168 NOTES A.VD MEMORANDA. 



granules in linear series has been watched by MM. Bechamp 

 and Estor (' Compt. Rend./ 1868). At first the granules 

 form chaplet-like series, but these gradually tend to become 

 more cylindrical, so as to produce ordinary Bacteria and 

 Vihriones. Similar phenomena have been testified to by 

 Signors Crevelli and Maggi ('Rendiconti di Lombardo,' 1868). 

 These observers watched the union of vitelline granules, and 

 saw them gradually fused into bodies which in all respects 

 resembled Vibrio hacillus, whilst these in their turn gave rise 

 to distinct Leptothrix filaments. Precisely similar changes 

 were subsequently followed out by the same observers within 

 epithelial cells taken from the back of the tongue of a diabetic 

 patient. In this case the granulations of the epithelial cells, 

 by their union in linear series, formed the rudiments of the 

 future independent organisms. 



On the other hand, we may watch all the stages by which 

 epithelial cells in an apparently healthy condition become 

 filled with the minutest granules, which subsequently develop 

 into well-formed Bacteria, \\x%% as particles similarly produc- 

 tive of Bacteria may be seen to appear within the substance 

 of dying Amoebae. If healthy-looking epithelium cells from 

 the inner side of the cheek be mounted and kept in a warm 

 damp chamber, in the course of from twelve to twenty-four 

 hours a multitude of isolated and motionless specks make 

 their appearance and speedily develop, within the substance 

 of the cell, into well-formed Bacteria. This takes place 

 when no notable amount of Bacteria exists in the surround- 

 ing fluid; and, indeed, from the mode of appearance, distri- 

 bution, and development of the particles within the cell, it 

 is obvious that, on the " germ theory,'^ we should have to 

 believe that each epithelial cell Avhich goes through this 

 transformation is saturated with as many invisible germs of 

 Bacteria as would correspond to the motionless and scattered 

 organisms which are subsequently imbedded in its substance. 

 In their earliest stage these units do not multiply ; and befoi'e 

 the contents of the cell fluidify, their relative positions are 

 maintained and may be well observed. 



Thus, then, we have the possibility of independent or- 

 ganisms arising within unhealthy or dying cells, either by 

 means of a heterogenetic modification of some already existing 

 particles or globules, or by a process of new birth in the 

 fluid or semi-fluid matter of the cell. By own or other of 

 these modes, we believe that the various Fungi and other 

 allied organisms, which are so frequently met with in the 

 bodies of animals as well as of plants, are capable of arising 

 de novo. 



