THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 287 



tricles of the brain by Sir Wm. Jenner, in a gelatinous 

 stratum on the surface of old bones by Mr. Stephens, 

 and in a few other habitats 1 . It is believed by the 

 Rev. M. J. Berkeley to be some unusual form of one of 

 our common moulds, though great obscurity is acknow- 

 ledged to prevail on this subject, and nothing is cer- 

 tainly known concerning its subsequent morphological 



FIG. 21. 

 Sarcina, from an Ammonic Tartrate and Sodic Phosphate Solution. 



condition, or from what organism it has been derived. 

 Mr. Berkeley says 2 , c Every attempt to make it ger- 

 minate and produce its proper fruit has at present 

 failed.' I have met with it several times in closed 

 flasks containing ammonic tartrate and sodic phosphate, 

 though not in other saline solutions with which I 

 have experimented. It appears to be always produced 

 in slightly acid fluids, and it seems very probable that 



1 For further particulars on this subject, see Dr. Tilbury Fox's ' Skin 

 Diseases of Parasitic Origin,' pp. 1 52-163. M. Pasteur ( Ann. de Chim. 

 et de Phys.,' 1862, PI. n, fig. 27, K, and p. 80) has figured and 

 alludes to an 'Algue forage de cellules quaternaires, deposee sous 

 forme de precipitate,' upon the walls of a flask which had contained 

 ' 1'eau de levure non sucree,' and which, if not Sarcina, must be very 

 closely allied thereto. 



2 ' British Fungology,' 1860, p. 69. 



