Transactions of the ['"•jTum^ai "^I^Tm' 



II. — Organisms in Mineral Infusions. 



By C. Staniland Wake, F.A.S.L. 



(Ilead hefore the Royal Microscopical Society, December 8, 1869.) 

 (Communicated by Dr. Lawson.) 



At the present time, when so much is being said and written about 

 " spontaneous generation " and the conditions of hfe, there is no 

 wonder that the mind sometimes, almost invohmtarily, turns towards 

 the " inorganic" world, and wonders whether the rocks whose origin 

 is due to the activity through countless ages of microscopical organic 

 creatures, may yet be made to restore some part of the vitahty they 

 have absorbed. The idea that this might be so led me to make the 

 experiments the results of which I am about to detail. 



My first experiments were with coal. The character of this 

 mineral, and the varied and cmious products which have been 

 derived from it, make coal much more promising than any other of 

 the organic minerals as a subject of investigation. There are, how- 

 ever, two conditions absolutely necessary (as will be well under- 

 stood) to success. Life requires moisture for its development, and 

 this moisture can be properly applied for the object had in view 

 only when the coal or other mineral has been disintegrated, and its 

 particles are made as fine as possible. When a piece of coal has 

 thus been finely divided and its constituents placed in water, it will 

 be found, when examined under the microscope, to contain (besides 

 the larger pieces of black matter) irregularly-shaped black or brown 

 particles, like portions of fronds, small pieces of crystalline sub- 

 stance — generally of a greyish hue, but often marked or mottled with 

 brown — and numerous muiute dark bodies, many of which are 

 apparently of an oval form, the smaller ones having a rapid and 

 regular vibratory motion. When an infusion of coal presenting 

 these characters, made with distilled water, had been allowed to 

 stand about a week, I examined some of the coal powder under the 

 microscope, and found that a curious form of vegetation was begin- 

 ning to be developed, sometimes from the larger black pieces of 

 matter, but generally from the crystalline substance. This vegeta- 

 tion ultimately formed masses of irregularly-shaped stems, bearing 

 one or more fronds, and its black colour and curious formation gave 

 it a very strange appearance. This, however, is not the only form 

 of vegetable growth to be met with in this infusion. Sometimes I 

 have found fibres, apparently flattened and perfectly black, which 

 occasionally attain great length. Other fibres resemble these, 

 except in colour (which is of a greyish hue), and in their bearing at 

 intervals, small black fronds. I have several forms of this grey 

 fibre, in one of which the sides are indented at regular intervals. 



