NATURE 



[August 14, 1890 



of earth ? They were extremely small, and the largest of them 

 so small that one hundred millions could be packed within a cube 

 whose side was equal to the diameter of a coarse human hair, 

 and there were from ten to twenty less than this. This group 

 were amenable only to the most powerful microscopes. It was 

 known long ago that they carried on putrefaction ; now they 

 knew that the process was a fermentation. Dr. Dallinger then 

 went on to contrast ordinary saccharine fermentation, like that of 

 yeast, producing carbonic acid and alcohol, with the fermentation 

 produced by these saprophytic organisms, and showed that both 

 could be prevented by taking care to keep away any of the germs 

 of the fermentation, that both could be arrested by the action of 

 heat, and that both tended to break up the organic matter into 

 simpler forms. In the case of the saprophytes, water and 

 carbonic acid were produced eventually from the decaying mass 

 on which they dwell, and thus by the vital functions of these 

 organisms the chemical elements in the animal body were 

 restored to nature, to become once more part of the protoplasm 

 of living things. There were, however, two things in which 

 these saprophytic ferments were different from ordinary ferments ; 

 in the latter a special organism produces a special product, 

 whereas in the former there was no such definite product, and in 

 the saprophytic ferment the final process was produced, not by 

 one definite organism, but by a series of organisms. He did 

 not think that these ferments destroyed one another ; but 

 between the beginning and the end of the putrefaction there was 

 a definite incoming and disappearance of fnany forms. In from 

 50° to 60° north latitude, he believed these organisms were 

 limited to ten forms, and of these eight were definitely 

 determined, and their life-history made out. There were some 

 present everywhere, and they acted at once. Dr. Dallinger said 

 the object of his study was biological, and not pathological. 

 Some of the results he discovered some time ago, but the large 

 progress of recent years was due to the great improvements in 

 our instruments. These organisms were all different, no two of 

 them behaved alike. He said that if they added a very small 

 quantity of putrescent fluid to a speck of water on a slide kept at 

 65° F., it was very easy to find some of these organisms almost 

 directly, using a lens magnifying looo diameters ; and they 

 would be found to increase with a rapidity that no description 

 could suggest. He then showed on the screen the first kind of 

 organism that appears, and mentioned that when seen in reality, 

 they were in a constant state of movement, and that the 

 saprophytic ferment begins to split up and break down the 

 organic tissues. This first organism, Bacierium terino, would 

 produce profound changes in the putrefying tissues, and prepare 

 the way for other organisms. It would be seen that this 

 organism would be densest round the mass that was being 

 broken up, forming a felt-like covering or garment to it ; soon 

 a new organism of a spiral form would make its appearance 

 (this was shown on the screen), while Bactermm termo would 

 become less abundant, and be diffused over the entire fluid. 

 The new one, like Bactermm termo, would be densest next to the 

 putrid matter, and would form a covering to it. The decaying 

 tissue would now rapidly change, and would give off noxious 

 gases. This form would continue for an indefinite time, and be 

 succeeded by one or two new forms. (These were shown on the 

 screen.) One of these new forms would have a s-ingle flagellum, 

 and the other would have two ; and they would move rapidly 

 about and glide continuously over the decomposing matter. 

 They increased very rapidly, one method of increase being by a 

 process of division. In another method two bodies would unite 

 together, and an amoeboid condition ending in the fusion of two 

 forms resulting in a sac from whence spore was produced, giving 

 rise to new generations. Their rate of increase was inconceiv- 

 ably rapid, and it was not surprising that the putrid tissue was 

 surrounded by a garment of these organisms. They had in all 

 probability their food and suitable conditions for their life 

 produced by the functions of their predecessors. Then a time 

 came when this form died out, and a very remarkable organism 

 appeared which also invested the putrid matter with a garment 

 of living organisms ; they stuck to the mass and waved to and 

 fro. These were shown on the screen as they would be seen in 

 the microscope, clustering round the matter. With this was 

 shown the next organism — a most wonderful one. It has a rigid 

 flagellum armed with a hook and a long trailing flagellum. The 

 animal swims about, and when it comes to a piece of decaying 

 tissue, it often anchors itself by the trailin'^ flagellum, which is 

 coiled into a spiral ; then it darts up and down upon the decay- 

 ing matter. The action of this was shown by a mechanical 



slide, the up-and-down motion and the coiling and uncoiling of 

 the flagellum being seen. These were succeeded by a group 

 which had a free flagellum without any hook, and which fastens 

 itself down by means of its trailing flagellum, and hammers the 

 decomposing tissue by throwing itself against it. This process 

 was also shown on the screen by means of a mechanical slide. 

 Dr. Dallinger said that this occurred at about the middle of the 

 putrefactive action, the greater part of which is accomplished by 

 this. The mass now gradually broke up. The next kind, which 

 was also shown on the screen, and its process explained by a 

 mechanical slide, has two trailing flagella by which it anchors 

 itself ; it then springs up and darts down, and further promotes 

 the decomposition. At the close of this stage there is little left 

 of the original tissue but some water charged with carbonic acid, 

 and a slight deposit of fragments. Dr. Dallinger said that four 

 years ago he found a new organism which acts as a gleaner, and 

 gathers up the fragments of the debris left by the others. It is 

 armed with six flagella, and swims about in the liquid, and when 

 it comes within a certain distance of the solid remnants twists its 

 middle flagella together, and springs up and down on the debris, 

 removing entirely tiny particles. They move in a most 

 beautifully rhythmic manner up and down. He showed a 

 picture of these on the screen, and also a mechanical slide of a 

 group of three, with their pretty rhythmic action. And thus the 

 organic tissues were broken up into their ultimate elements. 

 Dr. Dallinger mentioned that the last form was comparatively 

 rare, and was more frequent in warm countries. It was clear, 

 he said, that different climates had somewhat different forms. In 

 conclusion, he said that twenty years ago, when in a state of 

 ill-health, he took to this research, and found all these beauties 

 and a thousand times more ; and he urged those present to take 

 up some field of microscopical research, and seek for the hidden 

 beauties of Nature. They would find much pleasure in the 

 doing of it. They need not be appalled by the high powers 

 he had used ; there were many facts to be found by the help 

 of far lower powers. If they did this they would find that life 

 would have a pleasure it had never known before. 



HIGHLAND PLANTS FROM NEW GUINEA. 



A S we have already noted, Baron von Mueller contributes to 



the Transactions of the Royal Society of Victoria (vol. i., 



Part 2) some important records of observations on Sir William 



MacGregor's highland plants from New Guinea. The following 



are his general conclusions : — 



" The memorable expedition, so valiantly and circumspectly 

 carried out by His Excellency Sir William MacGregor, the 

 Governor of British New Guinea, for the ascent and exploration 

 of the Owen Stanley's Ranges, has for the first time brought 

 also the flora of the temperate and the sub- Alpine zone of that 

 great island within the reach of elucidation. In a brief pre- 

 liminary report, written in July last, attention was drawn to 

 the extraordinary commigration, by which plants of Asiatic, of 

 far southern and even of sub- Antarctic types had mingled 

 together in the Papuan highlands. From the material thus 

 brought together only a commencement could be made to study 

 the vegetation of the higher mountains regarding geographic 

 points of view ; in order to obtain a full insight into the Papuan 

 Alpine flora, it would require to explore the hitherto inac- 

 cessible more central culminations in the island, where on tiers 

 still some few or perhaps several thousand feet higher in yonder 

 latitudes, according to varied physical conditions, a glacier flora 

 would be more fully reached. To form extensive conclusions on 

 the nature of the Papuan Alpine flora would at present be pre- 

 mature ; but from what we have now seen, it promises to be 

 eminently interesting. On this occasion I shall merely group 

 these highland plants on geographic principles, with a hope that 

 it may yet fall to my own share to carry on these comparisons 

 more amply at some future time from fuller material, the total 

 sub-Alpine and Alpine flora of New Guinea in all likelihood 

 comprising several hundred species of vascular plants. Such 

 future researches will be to myself all the more fascinating, as 

 from 1853 to 1855 the whole flora of the Australian Alps became 

 elucidated by field-work of my own, it being utterly unknown 

 before. In these pages is alluded only to those plants, which 

 Sir William MacGregor gathered in altitudes between 8000 and 

 13,000 feet, therefore in the region above the mountain zone, 

 involved in almost permanent clouds. 



" Of the 80 plants, specifically and distinctly recorded in these 



NO. 1085, VOL. 42] 



