56 SPONTANEOUS EGGS. 



But the lifeless " proliferous disk," from which the 

 living eggs are supposed to emanate so curiously, 

 when carefully examined, is at once resolved into 

 countless millions of separate living particles, every 

 one of which lives and grows, and must be regarded 

 as a distinct germ. Every one of these millions may 

 give origin to successors, each little bioplast being a 

 distinct being with all the attributes of an independent 

 living organism, and containing within itself all the 

 marvellous self-propagating powers of a living germ. 

 I feel sure that anyone who patiently studies the 

 simplest forms of life under the highest powers of the 

 microscope, will utterly reject the so-called observa- 

 tions which are adduced in support of the formation 

 of " spontaneous eggs " by the aggregation and 

 coalescence of lifeless particles. In the ten thousandth 

 part of such a proliferous mass are living germs 

 enough to produce by simple division in the course of 

 a few hours countless multitudes of living forms. 



Living particles, far more minute than the life- 

 constructing, non-living particles, have been seen and 

 studied, and they have been observed to increase and 

 multiply. But what is the nature of the mysterious 

 operation of vivifaction which takes place at the 

 moment of the conversion of the lifeless into living 

 matter ? Is the passage from the inanimate to the 

 living condition sudden and abrupt, or gradual ? Ac- 

 cording to Owen, this process is going on daily and 

 hotirly, so that there ought to be abundant opportuni- 



