PKOCEEDINaS OF 800IETIE8. 293 



matters of great interest. The twofold mode of reproduction men- 

 tioned — fission and impregnation — was remarkable. One of the pro- 

 cesses might prove to be the same as parthenogenesis, which was 

 known to exist in the case of the aphis. Another great point was the 

 bearing of some of the observations npon the important question of 

 spontaneous generation ; because if the germs alluded to had been 

 found by experiment to survive after exposure to a temperature of 

 250*^ or 300^ Fahr., it was quite clear to him that the observations of 

 Dr. Bastian must be looked upon as wholly inconclusive. 



Mr. H. J. Slack said he would just call attention to the excessive 

 minuteness of some of these " moving points," as they were called in 

 the pajjer ; for if a skilled observer, using a power so high as -^^ inch, 

 can only describe them as moving points, the actual objects themselves 

 must be almost infinitely small, and it could only be from the difier- 

 ence of their refractive power that they could be seen at all. The 

 impression given was, that if they were only a little smaller or were 

 nearer in refractive index to that of the fluid in which they moved, 

 though there might be myriads of them there, they would be utterly 

 invisible. They also found from the paper that they must not conclude 

 that even a high temperature would desti'oy life. They had usually 

 supposed that the process of heating organisms produced similar eifects 

 to the coagulation of the albumen in a boiled hen's-egg ; but it was pro- 

 bable that a jii'oteine substance which was not changed in that way 

 might survive any temperature which failed to actually disintegrate 

 it, and in the case of a hydro-carbonaceous compound it could not be 

 destroyed by anything short of actual burning. If carbon had only 

 been known to them in its combustible forms it would have been 

 received with much doubt that there might be conditions under which 

 it was difiicult to burn it, but they knew that a piece of graphite could 

 not be burnt in a candle, or a diamond with a lucifer match. These 

 things showed them how very careful they should bo not to rely 

 upon any merely negative evidence as to organisms and germs being 

 destroyed by heat. 



A vote of thanks to the authors of the paper was carried 

 unanimously. 



Mr. Charles Stewart called attention to some living organisms 

 exhibited in the room by Mr. Wood, and which bore a very strong 

 resemblance to the one shown there at the last meeting, and which he 

 thought to be allied to Bucephalus polymorphus. 



Mr. Wood said that one of the Fellows of the Society had men- 

 tioned to him that an object had been exhibited at the last meeting 

 very much like the one which he now exhibited, and he had therefore 

 endeavoui'ed to bring his specimens there for inspection. The objects 

 were, he believed, the larvte of the cockle. He also exhibited some 

 drawings taken from his note-book showing the other stages of its 

 development. He at first had supposed that these organisms did not 

 belong to the cockle at all, but further observation showed that they 

 were really the larvaj, and he had traced them up through all their 

 forms. 



Y 2 



