THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 457 



phyll vesicles enlarged and assumed a very bright-green 

 colour. Its outer surface underwent no condensation. 

 On the contrary, it seemed gradually to become more 

 plastic, whilst it also became decolourized, and studded 

 with a number of small ovoid, colourless, and refractive 

 particles. The large bright-green chlorophyll vesicles 

 had by this time become closely aggregated and even 

 partially fused into one mass, which slowly underwent 

 decolourization from periphery to centre. The mole- 

 cular changes going on in the superficial colourless 

 portions seemed to be capable of effecting the direct 

 transformation of the chlorophyll vesicles into colour- 

 less chlorophyll, since the central mass gradually became 

 smaller and smaller, without any of the usual inter- 

 mediate shades of colour revealing themselves. And 

 by the time the green mass had half disappeared, the 

 colourless peripheral portions of the transforming organ- 

 ism were exhibiting distinct amoeboid contractions and 

 alterations in shape. The ovoid refractive particles 

 also soon began to disappear, so that when the central 

 portions of chlorophyll had been completely decolourized, 

 the mass was converted into a rather sluggish, finely- 

 granular Amoeba, which developed vacuoles in its in- 

 terior, became more and more active, and at the same 

 time began to take food into its substance and increase 

 in size in the ordinary manner 1 . 



1 Dr. Gros says : ' Chaque vesicule, ici comme ailleurs qui est des- 

 tin^e a reproduire un Pljesconien ou Oxytrique, et qui n'a pas encore 

 assez de matiere en soi, est comme un oeuf, qui passe par la forme amce* 



