no THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



we are entitled to say is, that Bacteria, Torul<e, and 

 Amoeba are known to be some of the present primordial 

 forms of life. Being primordial, all theoretical conside- 

 rations would lead us to believe that these organic 

 forms would be as variable as careful observation has 

 shown them to be; and that a similar variability, 

 gradually growing less and less, would characterize 

 the different forms into which they might chance to 

 develop. This, also, is thoroughly in accordance with 

 the experience of those who have made such forms of 

 life the subject of long and careful study 1 . 



If, then, new-born living matter may develop at once 

 into different kinds of ToruU and thence into Fungi 

 or else into essentially similar organic forms only after 

 it has passed through the intermediate grades of Bacteria 

 and Leptothrix filaments, does it not almost certainly 

 indicate that there must be some harmony between the 

 structure and modes of growth of such lower kinds of 

 Fungi, and the sum total of conditions by which they 

 are influenced? But, during their growth, and as a 

 natural consequence of their intrinsic molecular move- 

 ments, these simple organisms may throw off buds and 

 segments which (like portions broken off from a crystal) 



known forms of life may have been many, and the different evolutional 

 series may have been arrested at different stages, or may be still in 

 progress. 



1 To what extent this variability is met with, and how complex are 

 the organisms which may spring into existence without previous parents 

 of the same kind, will be shown in subsequent chapters, and in 

 Appendix D. 



