246 7 HE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



with the most distinct, egg-like bodies ', varying in 

 size from -g-^" to 7 -}V' in diameter. What struck me 

 more than anything was the extreme distinctness with 

 which almost all the phenomena described by M. Pouchet 

 were to be seen. There could be little room for doubt 

 with such objects before one. 



The only difficulty experienced was to make out the 

 exact nature of the first change by which the egg-like 

 body became differentiated from the surrounding sub- 

 stance of the pellicle. I laboured under some dis- 

 advantages from having to examine an old and some- 

 what opaque pellicle, but after the most careful and 

 repeated observations with reference to this point, I 

 have been led to adopt an opinion slightly different 

 from that of M. Pouchet. Instead of smajl concentra- 

 tions of granules occurring which gradually increased 

 in size and at last became enclosed by a bounding 

 membrane it seemed to me that the differentiation 

 took place after a manner essentially similar to that 

 by which an ordinary 'embryonal area' is formed 2 . 

 The small embryos did not appear to represent the 

 earlier stages of large embryos; and it seemed rather 

 that spherical masses of the pellicle of different sizes 

 began to undergo molecular changes, which terminated 



1 They were actually embedded in the very substance of the pel- 

 licle. 



2 On the other hand, the embryos of unknown organisms which were 

 seen to form in the infusion of turnip leaves (see p. 236), did seem to 

 develop in a manner remarkably similar to the embryos of Paramedum 

 viride, as described by M. Pouchet. 



