THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 447 



Solutions exposed in airless and hermetically-sealed flasks to 

 293^ (i45C), for from five to twenty minutes ; and 

 subsequently maintained at a temperature qf^o-So ^ 1 . 



'Experiment g. A turnip infusion rendered very 

 faintly alkaline by liquor potassse. 



The flask was opened after nine weeks, when the 

 vacuum was found to be partially preserved. The fluid 

 was still of the same light brown colour as when it was 

 taken from the digester. Its reaction was now decidedly 

 acid, though the odour was slightly sour and not foetid. 

 There was a small quantity of granular scum on some 

 parts of the surface, and a distinct brownish flocculent 

 sediment, but the bulk of the fluid was tolerably 

 clear. On microscopical examination of the deposit, 

 a number of minute Torula-cells were found, both singly 

 and in groups. They varied from the minutest specks 

 up to bodies ^V?/' in breadth, and were mostly with- 



FIG. 32. 

 Various kinds of Torula from a neutralized Infusion of Turnip. ( X 600.) 



out nuclei or vacuoles. Some were growing out into 

 mycelial filaments. Other small, nucleated, spores were 



