218 Things not generally Known. 



Shortly after Mr. Crosse's return to Fyne Court, while pur- 

 suing his experiments for forming crystals from a highly caus- 

 tic solution out of contact with atmospheric air, he was greatly 

 surprised by the appearance of an insect. Black flint, burnt to 

 redness and reduced to powder, was mixed with carbonate of 

 potash, and exposed to a strong heat for fifteen minutes ; and the 

 mixture was poured into a black-lead crucible in an air furnace. 

 It was reduced to powder while warm, mixed with boiling 

 water, kept boiling for some minutes, and then hydrochloric 

 acid was added to supersaturation. After being exposed to vol- 

 taic action for twenty-six days, a perfect insect of the Acari 

 tribe made its appearance, and in the course of a few weeks 

 about a hundred more. The experiment was repeated in other 

 chemical fluids with the like results ; and Mr. Weeks of Sand- 

 wich afterwards produced the Acari inferrocyanerret of potas- 

 sium. The Acarus of Mr. Crosse was found to contribute a new 

 species of that genus, nearly approaching the Acari found in 

 cheese and flour, or more nearly, Hermann's Acarus dimidiatus. 



This discovery occasioned great excitement. The possibility 

 was denied, though Mr. Faraday is said to have stated in the 

 same year that he had seen similar appearances in his own elec- 

 trical experiments. Mr. Crosse was now accused of impiety and 

 aiming at creation, to which attacks he thus replied : 



As to the appearance of the acari under long-continued electrical 

 action, I have never in thought, word, or deed given any one a right 

 to suppose that I considered them as a creation, or even as a formation, 

 from inorganic matter. To create is to form a something out of a no- 

 thing. To annihilate is to reduce that something to a nothing. Both of 

 these, of course, can only be the attributes of the Almighty. In fact, I 

 can assure you most sacredly that I have never dreamed of any theory 

 sufficient to account for their appearance. I confess that I was not a 

 little surprised, and am so still, and quite as much as I was when the 

 acari made their first appearance. Again, I have never claimed any 

 merit as attached to these experiments. It was a matter of chance ; I 

 was looking for silicious formations, and animal matter appeared in- 

 stead. 



These Acari, if removed from their birthplace, lived and pro- 

 pagated; but uniformly died on the first recurrence of frost, and 

 were entirely destroyed if they fell back into the fluid whence 

 they arose. 



One of Mr. Crosse's visitors thus describes the vast electrical 

 room at Fyne Court: 



Here was an immense number of jars and gallipots, containing fluids 

 on which electricity was operating for the production of crystals. But 

 you are startled in the midst of your observations by the smart crackling 

 sound that attends the passage of the electrical spark ; you hear also 



experiments and apparatus ; a report of which being communicated to the 

 Brighton Herald, was quoted in the Literary Gazette, and thence copied generally 

 into the newspapers of the day. 



