joS ^rlMa '] Development of Blonas Lens. 201 



servations,* consist of angular masses of silex, soot flakes, pollen, 

 grains, starch granules, ligneous particles, Gonidia, Soridia, linen 

 cotton, and woollen fibres, hairs, &c., and may become traumatic 

 causes of disease, and give rise to bronchitis, influenza, knife-grinders' 

 and stonemasons' asthma, as well as the bronchitis and consumption 

 of cabinet makers, moulders, sweeps, and cotton operatives ; but not 

 the critical diseases known as fever, rubeola, scarlatina, &c., which 

 so resemble the growth of living beings in their hirth, perfection, 

 and decmj. 



Time will not admit of the consideration of the multitude of 

 questions which evolve themselves out of this series of observations : 

 such as IMonas and its congeners as the source of Infusoria and pro- 

 tozoal growths ; granular matter of Paramoecium as consisting of 

 Monads (evidence seems, however, to show that it is so of chloro- 

 phyll) ; the relation Monas has to Vibrio and to Mucor, or Yibrio 

 to Mucor, or Bacterium to Yibrio f — the nucleus theory ; the con- 

 traction of cell- wall as a source of ciha ; the shape of cells ; the 

 change of colour in cells; the conjugation of cells as a Gramic 

 process ; the vitality of formed matter ;| volition as the cause of 

 life;§ nutrition by Dyalysis; Amoeba as highly organized when 

 compared with Monas ; the relation of granular Mucor to Pus, and 

 the series of relations between Chlorococcus and Lichen and Moss 

 growths, between Palmella cruenta and Oscillatoria, Oscillatoria 

 and Lyngbya, Lyngbya and Moss ; the relation of Paramoecia to 

 Convallaria, Callidina elegans, Actinophyris Sol, &c,, and even the 

 relation of Diatoms to Algae. || These and numerous other interest- 

 ing questions, of which evidence will be found in the " Jottings," 

 must give place to that of the relation of Monas to the great forma- 

 tive and destructive changes of life, called health and disease. 

 Evidence on this point, involving as it does all these other consi- 

 derations, and many more must of necessity at its onset be very 

 meagre and inconclusive. The facts, so far as they go, warrant a 

 further investigation ; sufiice it to say that this great subject of 

 world-wide importance cannot be elucidated with the rapidity that 

 is desirable by the efibrts of private individuals, even though they 

 bring the talents and unwearied zeal of a Tyndall, a Beale, an 

 Owen, or a Huxley to the rescue ; but it is not only worthy of 

 ' a State department, but can only be elaborated by the extended 

 experience of large bodies of special investigators. 



Under this view, Monas and its congeners become at once im- 



* See "Jottings,'' Aug., 1869, p. 101 ; Exp., March 6, line 43. 



t See ' Fran Luders Botanisch Zeitung.' 1866. 



X Beale. pp. 69, 70. § Ibid., p. 156. 



(I In reftrence to a source of fallacy in microscopic experiments on motion as 

 a sign of " life," and its relation to the chemico-vital process of niitrition, it may 

 be observed that the movements of a piece of sodium on water, when in a state of 

 ignition, very closely resemble those of Monas in some of its forms. 



