148 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



about the development of the Torul* which multiply 

 as such in beer-wort, M. Trecul has been in the habit 

 of pouring away the supernatant beer from some of the 

 dregs, and replacing it with water. A portion of this 

 mixture placed on a slip and protected by a covering 

 glass, may then be kept in a damp chamber and 

 watched from time to time under the microscope. 



Some of the corpuscles develop large vacuoles in 

 their interior, whilst in others in which the plasma is 

 thin, refractive globules of various sizes are produced 

 within the cell 1 . These globules on the rupture of the 

 parent cell are capable of enlarging and giving rise to 

 new Torula corpuscles. 



The corpuscles always vary much in shape some 

 are spherical and others ellipsoidal, whilst others again 

 are more or less cylindrical. In their growth the two 

 former kinds often tend to pass into the cylindrical 

 variety, and then they segment occasionally after the 

 fashion of Bacteria 2 . Other spherical or ovoidal cells 

 may protrude a process from one extremity which is 

 much narrower than the cell itself; and this, as it grows 

 into a short filament, may give off still smaller lateral 

 filaments. When the germinating cells are only a little 

 longer than they are broad, a filament often grows 

 out from one side (near the extremity), whilst another 



1 The number of these globules varies very much. Where the plasma 

 is very thin they are scarce, but in better nourished cells they may be 

 quite tightly packed. 



3 See Fig. 47. 



