SARCINA. 



[ 560 ] 



SARCODE. 



mellaceae (Confervoid Algae) from considera- 

 tions relating to its apparent structure, but 

 which in its habitat and general characters 

 would appear more nearly related to the 

 Fungi. Sarcina ventriculi (PL 3. fig. 5 a 

 and b) is a body found sometimes in great 

 abundance in vomited contents of the sto- 

 mach of the human subject, also in the sto- 

 mach after, death, where no disorder had 

 appeared during life ; in the urine, faeces, in 

 the pus of pulmonary abscess, &c. ; it has 

 also been found in the stomach of the rab- 

 bit. It ordinarily consists of minute square, 

 oblong, or even irregular masses, of consi- 

 derable consistence, composed of four, eight, 

 sixteen, sixty-four or more squarish cells 

 contained in a tough transparent frond, ap- 

 parently composed of the cell-membranes of 

 these cells. The cells are always most closely 

 connected in groups of four, which stand a 

 little more apart from each other in the se- 

 condary groups of sixteen ; these again have 

 a stronger line of demarcation between them 

 when they are collected into tertiary groups 

 of sixty-four (PI. 3. fig. 5 , 6). The size of 

 the primary cells (nuclei of Ch. Robin) ap- 

 pears to vary slightly ; we find their diameter 

 about 1-16,000" ; they have a slight brownish 

 tint, which imparts a colour to the whole 

 mass. Iodine colours the fronds brown; 

 alcohol contracts them a little. Nitric acid 

 does not dissolve them, even when heat is 

 applied. Alkalies cause the fronds to break 

 up into the constituent components. The 

 plant appears to increase by the division 

 of the contents of its ultimate cells into four, 

 and the formation of a new membrane around 

 each portion, the groups remaining attached 

 a longer or shorter time according to cir- 

 cumstances. The history of this remarkable 

 production requires further elucidation ; it is 

 evidently not connected with any special 

 derangement of the stomach, as was formerly 

 supposed ; and its occurrence is now known 

 to be much more common than was at one 

 time imagined. 



Ch. Robin places Sarcina in Meyen's ge- 

 nus Merismopadia, with which it certainly 

 agrees in general appearance and characters, 

 except that the cell-contents in the latter 

 are of a glaucous green colour ; possibly the 

 objects all belong to one genus, in spite of 

 the unusual locality of the <S. ventriculi ; on 

 this we are unwilling to give an opinion. 

 But it must be mentioned here, that the 

 remarks offered on Merismopcedia under the 

 head of GONIUM require modification. The 

 true species of MERISMOP^EDIA are totally 



distinct from GONIUM, which has no conti- 

 nuous frond, and belongs to the Volvocineae; 

 and of the species given under GONIUM, 

 probably only G. pectorale really belongs 

 to it. We have recently examined fresh 

 specimens of a true Merismopcedia (from 

 stagnant water) with its green cells (in groups 

 of sixteen or more), about 1-16,000 or 

 1-17,000" in diameter (very nearly equal to 

 Sarcina ventriculi]', this would appear to 

 correspond to Nageli' s M. Kutzingii (= M. 

 glauca, Kiitz. Phyc. Germ, and M. punctata, 

 Kiitz. Phyc. general.). M. glauca (ditches) 

 is said to have the cells from 1-4800 to 

 1-7200" in diameter, about twice as large as 

 the former. The bluish-green cells are oval 

 when about to divide, at other times glo- 

 bular. 



Wedl says he has found Sarcina abun- 

 dantly in water surrounding frog's spawn ; 

 it is a question whether this was not one of 

 the species of Merismopadia just named. 



It may be desirable, in the present state 

 of our knowledge, to keep Sarcina distinct ; 

 but should it prove to be an Algaceous plant, 

 there appears to be no character by which it 

 can be divided from the older genus Meris- 

 mopcedia. 



BIBL. Goodsir, Edinb. Med. and Surg. 

 Journ. 1842. p. 430, Anat. and Path. Obs. 

 Edinb. 1845. pi. 8. figs. 1 & 3; Busk, Mi- 

 crosc. Journal, 1843; Virchow, Archiv f. 

 Path. Anat. i. p. 264 ; Simon, ibid. ii. p. 331; 

 Wedl, Path. Histol. 753 ; Schlossberger, 

 Archiv f. Phys. Heilkunde, 1846. p. 747- 

 768 ; C. Miiller, Bot. Zeit. v. p. 273 (1847); 

 Nageli, Einz. Alg. p. 2 ; Ch. Robin, Vegetaux 

 Parasit. 2nd ed. p. 331 ; Lehmann, Phys. 

 Chemie ; Bennett, Lectures on Clin. Med. 

 1851. p. 214 ; Funke, Atlas der Phys. Chem. 

 pi. 7- fig- 4. MERISMOP^EDIA, Meyen, 

 Muller's Archiv, 1839. ii. p. 67, Pflanzen- 

 phys. iii. p. 440; Nageli, 1. c. p. 55. pi. 1 ; 

 Kutzing, Phyc. Gen. p. 294, Spec. Alg. p. 

 471 ; Tab. Phyc. v. pi. 38. 



SARCODE. A term applied by Dujarclin 

 to the gelatinous, homogeneous, diaphanous 

 proteine-substance occurring abundantly in 

 very young animals, the larvae of insects, 

 embryos of the Vertebrata, worms, zoo- 

 phytes, &c., and representing the fibro- 

 areolar tissue of the higher and adult ani- 

 mals. It appears to constitute the whole of 

 some of the lower animals, as the Amoeba. 

 It may be readily studied when exuding 

 from around the body of the intestinal pa- 

 renchymatous worms, as the Distoma, Cys- 

 ticercus, Ttsnia, &c., or almost any of the 



