82 PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 



useful comments on Mr. Wake's views on spontaneous generation. 

 The author thinks it is not credible that organic germs could have 

 retained vitality after exposure to the heat which Mr. Wake applied 

 to the milk; it is not credible that eggs of infusoria like Itolpoda 

 could have been in the milk, if that had not been exposed to the air ; 

 and it is to be presumed that Mr. W. would not have experimented on 

 milk that had not been protected. Is there any other source of error ? 

 Mr. W. says he put the burnt " residue " in a bottle half full of dis- 

 tilled water — size of bottle not given. Now the author has shown in 

 the above-mentioned journal that he had found it impossible to pro- 

 cure distilled water perfectly pure. What germs were in the distilled 

 water the experimenter did not know. Like hundreds of others, he 

 takes it for granted that there can be none, and then attributes every- 

 thing he discovers to the matter experimented upon, and not to the 

 medium used. But what did he find beside the kolpoda-like animal ? 

 Something like amoebae, an object about the nature of which very little 

 is kno^TQ, and a " mass of organic matter " which " had attached to it 

 great niunbers of small infusoria, which, by continual jerking move- 

 ments, endeavoui'cd to free themselves." Here is where he believes 

 the great mistake of eminent microscopists has often been made, pro- 

 bably in part owing to inferior instruments. They have assumed that 

 a body with a "jerking movement," or any movement, must be an in- 

 fusorium, or a germ, or some organic being. This is the important 

 point now for the study of microscopists. In August of last year, 

 Mr. D. S. Holman, of Philadelphia, brought to him a slide which he 

 wished examined. It was placed under the microscope with a good 

 objective, and he saw the field filled with an immense niunber of 

 minute spheres, all in movement, as lively as a party in a ball-room. 

 He at once saw that they were what have been called monads by some 

 writers, germs by others, and " bioplasm " by Beale. Mr. Holman then 

 informed him that what he saw was albumen — white of eggs — coagu- 

 lated by carbolic acid ; that it was preimred, mounted, and completely 

 sealed up from access of air, in July, 1869 ; and that the lively move- 

 ment had been going on constantly (at least it was always seen when 

 looked at) ever since. A few days since, with the view of verifying 

 Mr. Holman's experiment, he prepared some white of egg himself, and 

 has obtained the same results. The whole field of the microscope is 

 filled with minute granules, particles, monads, or germs, all dancing 

 together. Now here we have matter in which it is impossible (if 

 hiunan reason can pronounce an opinion on the subject) that any 

 animal or vegetable life can exist, and yet in which there is present 

 that one evidence of life, motion ; and this motion has continued in 

 the fii"st-mentioned slide unchanged for fifteen months. Nor is this 

 all. He has prepared slides of inorganic matter, — e. g. minute par- 

 ticles of chalk and china clay, suspended in a solution of glycerine in 

 alcohol (can any life be sustained in such a medium ?) — and these not 

 only present the same movements, but an exi)ert eye cannot distingiiish 

 a particle of organic from one of inorganic matter, with the same mag- 

 nifying power. This movement of particles of matter in a fluid is 

 no new thing ; it has been known for years, and the text-books on the 



