466 



NATURE 



[December 24, 1914 



which the infusions are prepared. 1 have found, for 

 instance, that infusions prepared at 90° and 85" K. 

 respectively, will no longer yield Monads or Ama?b£e 

 if the pots are from the first kept at a temperature 

 '^^ 5o°-54° F- Then, in each case, as a rule, only 

 brown Fungus-germs begin to appear after eight or 

 more days, instead of the Monads or Amcebse which 

 would have appeared had the pots been kept at the 

 higher temperatures previously indicated. 



Here then we have the revelation of still more 

 astounding- facts, since it seems to be shown that 

 Amoebae, Monads, and Fungus-germs are actually 

 interchangeable products, capable of being derived 

 from similar bacterial aggregates, under the influence 

 of slight but well-defined differences of temperature. 



.1 Few AVtf Details Concerning Some Tube 

 Experiments. 



In a previous communication to Xvture for 

 January 22 of this year I gave some account of my 

 experiments with saline solutions in sterilised tubes, 

 tending to show that living matter is still appearing 

 de novo on the surface of the earth, seeing that ufider 

 the very restrictive conditions necessitated bv these 

 experirnents there was abundant evidence to show that 

 Bacteria, Torulae, and simple Moulds have repeatedlv 

 come into existence. 



I stated that my experiments had been repeated in 

 Paris with positive results by Albert and Alexandre 

 Mary. They not only obtained organisms from their 

 tubes, but caused them to multiplv in different culture 

 media. 2 My experiments were also repeated in New 

 York by Drs. Jonathan Wright and MacNeal. After 

 some negative and some doubtful results, they suc- 

 ceeded last year, among a few other successes, in 

 producing crowds of organisms in every one of a set 

 of twelve tubes, containing colloidal silica and other 

 materials which I had sent them. At first they felt 

 strongly of opinion that the results obtained from the 

 first of these tubes, in which, as thev said, unques- 

 tionable organisms were found in "enormous num- 

 bers," must have been due to the pre-existence of 

 organisms in the materials used. But after careful 

 examination of the materials they found no support 

 for this supposition, admitted that thev could not cake 

 refuge in any other, and added, " we have no sugges- 

 tion to make other than your interpretation, and, 

 indeed, we desire to be entirelv non-committal as 

 yet." 



These experiments were undertaken bv Dr. Wright, 

 as he told me in his first letter asking 'to be supplied 

 with some of the actual materials used by me, in 

 consequence of his "sincere desire to ascertain ' the 

 truth " ; but only a few weeks after thev had found 

 unmistakable confirmation of mv results, I received 

 a letter informing me that he and his colleague were 

 not intending to pursue the investigation. One reason 

 alleged for their relinquishment of the investigation 

 at this particular juncture was their non-success, in | 

 the few, and only slightlv varied, attempts made to 1 

 cause the organisms to grow in culture media. 



Dr. Wright has, however, been good enough to 

 send me some of their notes and unopened tubes, and 

 amongst them I have received and opened three of 

 the t\yelve tubes in question. On examination the 

 organisms contained in each of them have been 

 similar to those found in the first tube, specimens 

 of which had been sent to me. In others, opened in 

 New York, I am told the organisms have also been 

 similar. 



In Fig. 8, A and B, two of the manv larger 

 organisms found by me are shown. They are of a 

 kind new to me, not corresponding quite either with 



- See Le Medecin (Brussels), October ^r, 1913, and January 15, 1914. 



NO. 2356, VOL. 94] 



Streptothrix or Crenothrix to which they seem most 

 allied. In Fig. 9, A, one of the numerous early forms 

 of such an organism, is shown ; while in Fig. 9, B. 

 we have a highly magnified reproduction of one of 

 the many small masses which were found, similar to 

 one which is to be seen in Fig. 8, A. In this mass, 



Fig. 8. 



among crowds of bacilli, there seem to be also many 

 embryonic forms of the large organism. 



I handed the last of these tubes to Aubrev H. 

 Drew,^ as he kindly undertook to try to develop 

 the organisms. He has been successful,' with the aid 



Fig. 9.— Ax 530; BX700. 



of tyrosin and other auxetics, in cultivating the 

 bacilli, more or less freely, in six different media, but 

 not the large organism. ' The bacillus, too, seems to 

 be strange; he has tested it in various ways and its 



3 Joint-author with Dr. J. W. Cropper of " Researches into Induced Cell- 

 Reprcduciion." (Murray, 1914.) 



