116 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Apr., 



perature of of 80° F. Some absorbed new water and 

 swam about, some did not. He says that he "next pre- 

 pared a slide on which were upwards of twenty actively 

 mooving Rotifers, and exposed it to the hot sun during 

 the afternoon. On examination of the slide, the follow- 

 ing morning, after moistening the material, all the 

 Rotifers continued motionless, and remained so to the 

 last moment. From these observations it would appear 

 that the Rotifers and their associates become inactive 

 in comparatively dry positions and may be revived by 

 supplying them with more moisture, but when the ani- 

 mals are completely dried they are incapable of being 

 revivified. Moisture adheres tenaciously to earth, and 

 Rotifers may rest in the earth like the Lepidosiren, until 

 returning waters restore them to activity ; that is to say ; 

 the Rotifers can be dried up and revivified but cannot 

 be born again. 



The animal does not exist, neither does the vegetable, 

 but the organism does. It lives, reproduces and dies, 

 to make place for another. Rotifers are masses of pro- 

 toplasm that when dried at a moderate heat do not lose 

 all of the water that is in their tissues. They can be 

 awakened by supplying them with enough water to swim 

 in. That it is the same with Bacillariacese I have many 

 times seen. They can be dried up and do not loose all 

 of their water. Salt-water forms as well as fresh water 

 ones dry up but retain enough water to live by. Ii may 

 be seen in the endrochrome which is not quite gone. 

 But when this is gone and the Bacilliarians, Navicula 

 viridis for instance in fresh water, and Navicula perigri- 

 na in brackish water, are white and loose all of their 

 color they are dead and cannot be revivified. 



Can any organism be born again without the meditation 

 of parents? I believe they can, and that spontaneous 

 generation comes into play in the Protista and some of 

 the so-called lower forms of living plants and animals. 



