102 



NATURE 



\May 23, 187^ 



nograph. His object was to ascertain the shapes of the 

 indentations made by different known sounds. The vowels 

 and diphthongs were spoken into the mouthpiece of the 

 apparatus with small panels in the order seen on the 

 diagram. 



These sounds were repeated thrice on each of three 

 foils. They were then mounted on glass plates, separated, 

 and labelled. Finally, they were cut out and mounted on 

 another piece of glass vertically, instead of horizontally, 

 in order that a number of the dents produced by any given 

 sound might be on the screen at once. 



Lissajous, Leon Scott, and Konig have provided the 

 means of transforming sounds into form, in various ways, 

 viz., by bright points on the ends of steel bars of different 

 thicknesses ; by vibrating membranes at the extremity of 

 a " phonautograph," and by flames reflected in a rotating 

 mirror. It was natural to conclude that the same vibra- 

 tions, imparted to a steel point by means of a metal dia- 

 phragm, would leave an equally characteristic trace. 



The same voice (that of Dr. Plush), speaking the fol- 

 lowing vowels and diphthongs as nearly^as possible at the 

 same distance from the mouthpiece, was relied upon for 

 the matrices. 



The first records tried, to ascertain whether the pro- 

 nunciation was perfect, were afterwards thrown away, and 

 the records which were studied were not in any way 

 injured by a second passage of the point of the stylus. 



By following along the nearly vertical line of impres- 

 sions, which are at the same time in focus, it will be 

 observed that this line consists of one long followed by 

 two shorts (or two shorts followed by one long), the 

 indentations bearing a general resemblance to each other 

 and to seeds. This is long A, or "Ah." A glance at 



[Note. — In the wood<ut, the forms made by the excursions of the stylus 

 •for the short letters are wider than they should be.] 



short a (as in "bat"), will show the same thing, but the 

 ;seed-shaped hollows are narrower, and there are no 

 abrupt terminations of the hollows by intervening parts 

 of the foil, which have not been touched by the needle- 

 poijit. 



E (or ay), on the screen, looked like the magnets of two 

 Bell telephones, with the small ends turned towards each 

 other. In the diagram they look like two Indian clubs with 

 the handles together. The same general resemblance is 

 ■observed in E short, except that, as in a short, the volume 

 of sound being less, the intensity was less, or (what is the 

 measure of intensity) the path of the needle-point was 

 shorter, and it seldom entirely cleared the foil, the con- 



sequence being a continuous groove of irregular, but 

 normally irregular, width. 



I and I are much alike in general form, as also are O 

 and 0, the coupling of the pairs of the latter being the 

 most striking feature. U and \5, in the drawing, best 

 show the difference in shape produced by less intensities, 

 the short being drawn out, and more acicular. 



01 is very interesting. The diphthong consists of 61, 

 and the very moulds which characterise their sounds are 

 to be observed in the cut. 



OW presents a composite character, but its derivation 

 has not yet been made out. 



The above presentation of the subject is necessarily 

 crude and imperfect, but will illustrate the possibilities of 

 an exhaustive investigation. 



THE 



LIFE-HISTORY OF 

 ORGANISM^ 



A SEPTIC 



T 



HIS was an account of a hitherto unrecorded 

 organism, belonging to the septic series, which was 

 found in the earlier stages of the decomposition of the 

 macerating body of a vole. It was studied by the aid 

 of the " continuous stage " used by the author and Dr. 

 Drysdale in their " Researches on the Life History of the 

 Monads," ' by means of which a drop of the septic fluid 

 containing the organism can be kept under examination 

 for an indefinite time, without evaporation ; and be studied 

 with the most delicate and powerful lenses. The method 

 pursued was continuous study, first of the details of the 

 several metamorphoses, and by the light thus gained, a 

 continuous study, subsequently, of their sequences in the 

 same individual form. 



The majority of the most difficult and delicate work 

 was done with a new j^-inch lens, made for the author, 

 with a special view to this class of observation, by Messrs. 

 Powell and Lealand. He also had the advantage of the 

 fine "new formula" lenses, made by the same firm 

 recently, that is to say, two ^ths, a ]^th, and a i^th. 

 He also used their i}^i\i and -^th inch objectives. 



The organism never exceeds the y^^jjth of an inch in 

 long diameter : it is oval, with a constriction slightly in 

 front of its short diameter : and at its anterior extremity 

 has a head-like protrusion, to which is attached a long 

 delicate flagellum. At the sides of the shorter, or front 

 segment of the oval, somewhat in the position of 

 " shoulders," two long fine flagella proceed, and as a rule 

 trail with exquisite grace behind ; one on either side. It 

 swims with great rapidity and has every variety of motion 

 in the fluid : and in the accomplishment of its evolutions 

 its lateral flagella are largely concerned. But besides its 

 swimming power, it has the capacity to anchor both its 

 trailing flagella to the floor, or the stage, or to a decom- 

 posing mass, and by coiling these flagella, and bringing 

 itself down upon the body to which it is anchored, and 

 then suddenly darting up so as to make its flagella, to- 

 gether, the radius of a circle, it darts down on the decom- 

 posing substance, and by the enormous numbers that are 

 constantly doing it, aids in the rapid breaking up of the 

 tissues. 



By steadily following it in the free-swimming condition 

 it was seen to undergo fission or self-division, which was 

 a very complex and extremely delicate process ; the 

 division beginning in the front flagellum and proceeding 

 until, by longitudinal division, a new lateral flagellum 

 was, in the act of self-division, made for each half ; and 

 by the snapping of this both halves went free as perfect 

 organisms, soon to commence the process again. A 

 great deal of close and careful detail was given of this 

 process, and was accompanied by illustrations drawn 

 from nature. There were also accounts of a series of 



' Abstract of Paper>ead before the Royal Saciety on the Life-History of a 

 Minute Septic Organism : with an Account of Experiments made to determine 

 its Thermal Death Point. By the Rev. W. H. Dallinger, F.R.M.S. 



' M. M. J., vol. xi. pp. 97 — 99. 



