THE ORGANIC CELL. 361 



than any other experiments, that, in the purest water, 

 under the influence of air, light, and heat, beings are 

 formed, which, oscillating as it were between the animal 

 and the plant, exhibit the primitive germs of both king- 

 doms."* Treviranusf repeated, and appeared to con- 

 firm these results ; but in these experiments we have nc* 

 evidence that the germ did not previously exist in the 

 spring-water which was employed. 



Some have regarded the cell as a crystal; they see 

 the crystal forming, by the accumulation of atoms, inta 

 a fixed form, under the influence of an " inner life;" 

 and, advancing but a step, they regard the cell as the 

 result of an increased exercise of the physical in- 

 fluences. J We have referred crystalline form to certain 

 magnetic conditions ; and it is evident that the atomic 

 cell is influenced by similar forces ; but if we place a 

 crystal in its natural fluid, though it increases in size, it 

 never alters in form : whereas, if we examine a cell in 



Shade and at Night j to which is joined, A new method of examining' 

 the accurute degrees of Salubrity of the Atmosphere, by John Ingen- 

 housz, Councillor of the Court, and Body Physician to their Im- 

 perial and Koyal Majesties, F.R.S., &c. London : printed for P. 

 Elmsley, in the Strand, and H. Payne, Pall Mall, 1779. 



* The Kingdoms of Nature, their life and affinity : by Dr. C. Gr. 

 Carus; Scientific Memoirs, vol. i. p. 223. 



f In Biologic, by G. R. Treviranus, vol. ii. p. 302, the following 

 passage occurs : " If we expose spring water to the sun in open 

 or even closed transparent vessels, after a few days bubbles rise 

 fi-om the bottom, or from the sides of the vessel, and a green crust 

 is formed at the same time. Upon observing this crust through 

 a microscope, we discover a mass of green particles, generally of a 

 round or oval form, very minute, and overlaid with a transparent 

 mucous covering, some of them moving freely, whilst others, per- 

 fectly similar to these, remain motionless and attached to the sides- 

 of the vessel. This motion is sometimes greater than at others. 

 The animalcules frequently lie as if torpid, but soon recover their 

 former activity." 



I On the Structure of the Vegetable Cell : by Mohl. Scientific 

 Memoirs, vol. iv. p. 113. Outlines of Structural and Physical 

 Botany : by Henfrey. 



