10 OF A GERM. 



Of a Germ. The term germ can only be correctly 

 applied to a particle that is alive ; but there are 

 multitudes of different kinds of germs. It used to 

 be supposed that the germ grew in a manner peculiar 

 to itself ; but we now know that however varied may 

 be the substances resulting from the changes taking 

 place in germinal matter, every kind of this living 

 material, at every stage of existence, grows essentially 

 in the same manner, though at a very different rate. 

 The living particle which sprouts from a cell of the 

 adult plant or organism, and is then detached, may 

 be called a germ, as well as the living particle formed 

 in the ovum, or the living matter in the ovary from 

 which the new being is evolved. Any living particle 

 growing or capable of growth, may be termed a 

 "germ" Every germ comes from living or germinal 

 matter, and from this only. A particle of living 

 matter, less than the * th of an inch in dia- 



l 00-000 



meter, is a living germ, Figs. I to 8, plate I. It 

 may take up lifeless matter, and convert this into 

 living matter like itself, and thus grow. It may 

 then divide and sub-divide, and thus a mass of 

 considerable size may result. The original germ 

 may give rise to successive generations of new 

 particles, "germs" having similar powers or pro- 

 perties ; or from it may emanate higher types of 

 organization, having special formative powers, from 

 which new germs may or may not proceed. So that 

 a germ is but a particle of living matter, which has 



