THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 283 



these first appear in a homogeneous film of fluid, they 

 present a more or less uniform distribution. Torula 

 cells, on the other hand, can be seen to pullulate 

 and multiply, and being motionless, are observed to be 

 distributed, not uniformly but in groups or colonies 

 through certain fluids in which they did not previously 

 exist. As to the origin of the minute specks or 

 plastide - particles which subsequently develop into 

 Torula cells, two views may be taken: either (i), they 

 are the developed representatives of pre-existing, though 

 not-visible, particles which have been derived from the 

 spores or filaments of pre-existing Fungi, or (2), they 

 are the representatives of previously invisible particles 

 of living matter which have originated de novo. 



The former is the doctrine advocated by Professor 

 Hallier, of Jena, whose views on this subject we may 

 now briefly epitomise. Such bodies as I have been 

 terming plastide - particles, Professor Hallier names 

 c micrococci.' He, also, regards them as minute par- 

 ticles of plasma, or naked living matter, though he 

 assigns to such particles a very definite mode of origin. 

 He believes them to be produced by the repeated 

 subdivision of the nuclei of some fungus-spores, or 

 by the breaking up of the protoplasmic contents of 

 certain larger reproductive cells produced by fungi. 

 Although not recognized by other botanists, Hallier 

 regards the production of micrococci, after the manner 

 stated, to be a normal occurrence in the life-history 

 of many of the smaller fungi. Whilst disagreeing 



