AND ITS RELATION TO ANIMAL LIFE 131 



The answer appears to be that nature must 

 have some all-pervading law in regard to this, 

 as in everything else, and as there is such a 

 fixed law with regard to plant life taking up 

 carbon-dioxide from the air, does it appear 

 likely that there would be no fixed law with 

 regard to such an important constituent as 

 nitrogen ? 



BACTERIA OR FUNGI 



I have consistently maintained for the last 

 twelve years that parasitic fungi and bacteria 

 can only flourish when the plant (or animal) 

 on which they feed is deficient in chlorophyll 

 or chlorophyll matter, or their products. This 

 view I find borne out by the following passage 

 in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. xviii., 

 p. 267- 



" It has been seen that the dependence of 

 parasites upon their hosts for the means of 

 subsistence varies considerably in degree, but 

 it is equally manifest that underlying this 

 condition of existence there are certain facts 

 which characterize every case. The most im- 

 portant of these is the absence or the inade- 



