86 THE MICROSCOPE. June 



servers, and some of the later too for the matter of that, 

 called it an animal. It was so lively, swimming about 

 with a vigor that was truly amusing. In time, as plants 

 were studied, their spores were seen to be lively al-so, 

 and Protococcus was transferred to the vegetable king- 

 dom. For a long time it was bandied, about from one 

 kingdom to the other resting nowhere, until it dropped 

 into the catagory of Protista of Hseckel. But this was 

 not permitted to rest easy for it was discovered that 

 many things would be classed as Protococcus and at 

 present we are left in doubt where to place it. If I may 

 be permitted to state what I think are the facts, the 

 Protococcus may stand in a place where they may be 

 plants at one time and animals at another ; that is to 

 say, elements of spontaneous generations. For I think 

 it can be demonstrated that they generate without any 

 eggs out of carbonic acid, and ammonia. I know this 

 will be considered heterodox by the older students, but 

 the modern students, who are searchers after truth, will 

 I am sure, bear me out. 



If we gather by scraping, by means of a knife, some 

 of the green coating that is on the bark of trees or on 

 stones or on brick buildings and place it in water and 

 examine it by means of a quarter inch lens and a one 

 inch occular, we find a number of spheres or green sub- 

 stance surrounded by a transparent stiff cell wall. When 

 we have a typical Protococcus among the green cells or 

 spheres we will see some begining of cell division. And 

 when we look further we will have some sproutings of 

 what seemed to be algse, of two or more cells joined end 

 to end with the cells themselves more or less elongated. 

 These latter will not seem to bear any relation to the 

 Protococcus itself, but appear to be algae. Such was the 

 interpretation of the older observers. But they were 

 mistaken. The spheres are the young of the growing 

 plant and the elongated seeming algse are the midway 



