12 Transactions, &e. ["^Ji^ll^ll^.^rM^o"' 



they occurred (except tliat of coal, wliich was in a covered wine- 

 glass) were kept in corked bottles. All the other infusions were in 

 stoppered bottles; and in these I have found neither the amceba 

 nor any of the other organic forms, which for this reason I 

 have made no mention of, produced by the other infusions. In 

 fact, all the corked infusions seemed to have abundance of infu- 

 sorial hfe, although the corks had not been before used, and were 

 therefore free from moisture until they came into contact with the 

 water of the infusions themselves. How the amoebw got into the 

 coal infusion I do not know ; but I do not believe they were deposited 

 there by the air or the water. I much rather think that they have 

 had their origin from the gelatinous-looking substance which is so 

 abundant in the coal infusions, and which often has much the 

 appearance of the amoeba itself. Moreover, the crystalloids con- 

 tained in one of these creatures seemed to be not merely foreign 

 bodies. They had the appearance of being in some manner con- 

 nected with the organism itself; and I would suggest that the 

 independent presence of the crystalloids in the infusion is due to 

 the breaking up of amoebal organisms. I have been more puzzled 

 by meeting with Botifer vulgaris in one of the coal infusions, than 

 by any tiling else : not so much perhaps by its presence, it having 

 occurred only once, as by its curious appearance when my attention 

 was first drawn to it. It looked exactly Hke a large piece of crystal- 

 line substance, of a regular oval form, but curiously marked. I 

 thought I had found an amoeba in an encysted state, but about a 

 minute afterwards, on again looking at it, I was astonished to find 

 a rotifer in full activity. 



I shall not attempt here to draw any general conclusions from 

 the phenomena above detailed. I find confirmation of some of my 

 experiments in the fact, recorded in the 'Journal of the Chemical 

 Society,' of the discovery by Mr. Koberts of a microscopic fungus in 

 colloid silica obtained by dialysis. I have met with a still stronger 

 confirmation, however, in the " chalk-mud " obtained from the 

 Atlantic deep-sea dredgings, some of which, through the courtesy of 

 Dr. Carpenter, I have been able to examine. In this I at once 

 recognized forms analogous to the ovate bodies of the chalk infusion, 

 and also the minute detached particles (evidently independent 

 organisms) which answer to the granules of Bathybius, and which 

 are present also in the marble infusions. The " fleshy " substance 

 of several of my infusions appears to answer to the protoplasm of 

 Bathybius. In the " chalk-mud " there is, moreover, an approach 

 to the development of "vegetable" stems, which is still further 

 confirmatory, although this may, perhaps, show that the fibrous 

 growth I have met with in the chalk and marble infusions has a 

 connection with animal rather than with vegetable hfe. 



