486 C. CLIFFORD DOBELL. 



primal life organism" (Macallumj 1899, p. 439). This is 

 one case in which this idea is definitely stated, but dozens of 

 other passages in the works of other writers can easily be 

 found in which a similar view is either formulated or tacitly 

 assumed. 



In statements of this sort two assumptions are made : 

 first, tliat Bacteria are more simply organised than other 

 living beings; secondly, that the more sirnpljL auganised 

 beings are phylogenetically the more jarimltive. There is no 

 real justification for either of these assumptions. By calTihg 

 BVcteria ''' low forms ot:' life," it is easy enough to arrive at 

 the conclusion that they occupy a position near the bottom 

 of the phylogenetic tree. But this is nothing more than a 

 petitio principii — a using of the conclusion at which it is 

 desired, to arrive as evidence for that conclusion. It is, of 

 course, open to anybody to make the assumption that the 

 Bacteria are like the most primitive forms of life; but the 

 fact should not be lost sight of that this is at present an 

 assumption, and nothing more. 



"Fusiform Bacteria." — All the so-called '^fusiform 

 Bacteria" which I have examined possess a distinct nucleus, 

 usually in the form of a spherical mass of chromatin — one in 

 each cell. This nucleus divides previous to the division of 

 the cytoplasm. 



Nuclei, which divide by araitosis, were originally described 

 in the fusiform organism ("Bacillus fusiformis") which 

 occurs in the human mouth, by Miihlens and Hartmann 

 (1906). This — so far as I am aware — was the first record of 

 nuclei in these organisms. A detailed description of the 

 nucleus was not given, and no figures were published. 



Quite recently, Hoelling (1910) has given a detailed 

 account of a fusiform organism — which he names Fusi- 

 formis terinitidis^ — which occurs in the gut of termites 

 (locality and species not stated). He also describes and 



1 Presnmalily a mistake for term it is. Hoelling proposes for all 

 the fusiform organisms the generic mime Fusiformis in place of the 

 ohviously inapplicable name Bacillus. 



