

EXPERIMENTS WITH SALINE SOLUTIONS 257 
connected with a body, at one extremity, of doubt- 
ful nature, though the other extremity is bifurcated 
—the longer of the two branches tapering away 
out of focus. In B the more usual form of these 
commencing Moulds is seen—in which both ex- 
tremities taper away from a more expanded middle 
portion. 
In another tube charged with some of the same 
AA solution the fluid was first boiled over the 
flame for about three minutes, so as to expel all 
air; the tube was then sealed during ebullition, and 
subsequently boiled for seven minutes in a can of 
water. This airless tube was then exposed to 
light for five weeks by the side of the other. On 
examination the flakes of silica were found to be 
crowded with cocci-like particles, though no distinct 
Bacilli were seen. It was impossible to decide from 
their appearance whether the separate cocci-like 
particles were organic or inorganic in nature. But 
I think it most probable that the majority of them 
were inorganic. There were, however, a few 
Torule to be seen here and there, together with 
a small number of incipient Moulds in different 
stages of growth. Three very early stages of 
these are shown in Fig. 15, A, B,.and C. In B 
there is a body like a corpuscle at one extremity, 
as in Fig. 14, A. It is probably an inorganic 
particle in both cases. In Fig. 15, D, a com- 
paratively long Mould is shown from another of the 
flakes, which was slightly twisted so that much of 
it is out of focus, though both its tapering extremi- 
ties are distinctly shown. These bodies certainly 
R 
