THE MICROSCOPE AND PLANT LIFE 



colourless oval body. The sugar solution causes it 

 to multiply and, after the lapse of a little time, 

 most of the yeast plants will be seen to bear out- 

 growths, called buds, which grow larger and larger 

 till, at length, they break away from the parent 

 plants and start a separate existence. Sometimes, 

 when these plants are increasing very rapidly, the 

 buds will bear smaller buds and these again still 

 smaller ones till a fairly long chain of yeast plants 

 is formed. 



It is always interesting and also instructive to 

 make comparisons as we progress with our work. 

 To illustrate our meaning let us compare the budding 

 of the yeast plant with the budding of the hydra, 

 which is described in our chapter on pond life. In 

 the same chapter we described the division of a 

 proteus animalcule into two separate organisms, a 

 process which is also undergone by bacteria when 

 circumstances are favourable to their increase. We 

 shall find many points of similarity if we make 

 careful comparisons, and several important differ- 

 ences. 



Objects for the microscope we can find in plenty, 

 without going far afield. The white mould which 

 we can probably find in the larder, on a pot of jam 

 or other food that has been allowed to stand for 

 some time, will provide a good subject to start 

 upon. A little of this plant, for such it is, carefully 

 lifted on to a dry slide will show the threads of the 

 mould, terminated by round black knobs. Breathe 

 on the specimen and the moisture of your breath 



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