THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



some would have us believe that the more complex and 

 mobile specks of new-born living matter, with all their 

 power of undergoing continuous internal change, ought 

 nevertheless to assume no specific shapes bacteria 

 ought not to develop into Vibrlones and Leptothrix fila- 

 ments, and none of these ought to grow into mycelial 

 filaments; or a Torula cell, which is more slowly 

 evolved in the same fluids, ought not to bud out and 



FIG. 45. 



Evolution of a primordial speck of living matter, through TVwZa-forms, 

 into Fungus filaments. (Pouchet.) 



grow into similar filaments, so as to give rise to the 

 simpler forms of Mould. These seem to be the views 

 of many who have been pleased to criticise my experi- 

 ments. Living matter is admitted to be more complex 

 than crystalline matter, and to be endowed with the 

 power of undergoing continuous internal molecular 

 changes, and yet, whilst crystalline matter may and 

 does develop into the most beautiful and complex 

 crystalline forms, new-born living matter, it is said, 

 ought not to evolve at once into the simplest kinds of 

 organisms. All this may seem true to some, but I must 



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