306 NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 



and when examined with a magnifying power of 1670 diame- 

 ters, a lateral aperture (mouth) tt-oVo" ^^ diameter was seen, 

 which was fringed by short active cilia, arranged like the 

 spokes of a wheel. These peculiarities cori-espond very closely 

 with those of an embryo Nassula. Very many were seen 

 with similar characters ; and multitudes existed in all con- 

 ditions intermediate between this stage and that of the 

 simpler organism which first emerged from the cyst." 



Dr. Bastian concludes by saying : 



" It will, of course, be seen that the phenomena which I 

 have described as taking place in the ' proligerous pellicle' 

 may be watched by all who are conversant with such methods 

 of investigation. We do not require to call in the aid of 

 the chemist ; we need exercise no special precautions ; the 

 changes in the pellicle are of such a kind that they can be 

 readily appreciated by any skilled microscopist. 



" Just as I have supposed that living matter itself comes 

 into being by virtue of combinations and rearrangements 

 taking place amongst invisible colloidal molecules, so now 

 does the study of the changes in the ' pellicle' absolutely 

 demonstrate the fact that the visible new-born units of 

 living matter behave in the manner which has been attributed 

 to the invisible colloidal molecules. The living units com- 

 bine, they undergo molecular rearrangements ; and the result 

 of such a process of heterogenetic biocrasis is the appearance 

 of larger and more complex organisms, just as the result of 

 the combination and rearrangement between the colloidal 

 molecules was the appearance of primordial aggregates of 

 living matter. Living matter is formed, therefore, after a 

 process which is essentially similar to the mode by which 

 higher organisms are derived from lower organisms in the 

 pellicle on an organic infusion. All the steps in the latter 

 process can be watched ', it is one of synthesis — a merging 

 of' lower individualities into a higher individuality. And 

 although such a process has been previously almost ignored 

 in the world of living matter, it is no less real than when it 

 takes place amongst the simpler elements of not-living matter. 

 In both cases the phenomena are essentially dependent upon 

 the ' properties' or ' inherent tendencies' of the matter which 

 displays them." — Nature. 



The Organ of Corti.— At the Royal Society, on May 30th, 

 a paper was read, "On the Structure and Function of the 

 Rods of the Cochlea in Man and other Mammals/' by Urban 

 Pritchard, M.D. 



The aim of this paper is to describe the true construction 

 and use of the cochlea, so far as its task of distinguishing 



