April A, 1872] 



NATURE 



455 



a highly refractive protoplasmic mass which began to exhibit 

 traces of segmentation. Masses of this kind were seen, which 

 had been resolved by such a process of segraentation into a 

 number of spherical corpuscles about iJ^" ™ diameter. Tliese 

 were at first highly refractive, though they gradually became 

 rather less so, and revealed the presence of two or three minute 

 granules in their interior. In other adjacent areas, a number 

 of densely-packed, pliant, and slightly larger corpuscles were 

 seen actively pushing against one another. When they sepa- 

 rated, they were found to be active ovoid specimens of Moiias 

 lens, about ^^jW' in length, and provided with a vacuole and a 

 rapidly lashing llagelluni." 



In other cases embryonal areas of the same nature were 

 formed, which went through similar processes of segmentation ; 

 although the units produced, instead of developing into Monads, 

 were seen to become transfonned into brown vesicular bodies, 

 which subsequently germinated into Fungus filaments. Whilst 

 affirming that he is now able to determine pretty surely the oc- 

 currence of either one of these phenomena. Dr. Bastian says : — 



" Experience has shown me, that, if an infusion has been 

 heated for a time to 212° F., the pellicle which forms on its 

 surface very frequently never gives rise to an embryonal area. If 

 the infusionhas been prepared ata temperature of 149° — 158' F., 

 the embryonal areas which form will give origin to Fungus germs ; 

 whilst in a similar infusion prepared at 120° — 130" F., the em- 

 bryonal areas, which seem at first to be in all respects similar, 

 break up into actively moving Monads." 



Dr. Bastian then proceeds to give an account of the origin of 

 Parainccia, laying stress upon the fact that, in order to obtain 

 such organisms, it is necessary to employ a filtered infusion made 

 with cold water. His observations on this subject were, in the 

 main, confirmatory of tliose of M. Pouchet. Thousands of egg- 

 like bodies, varying in tize from ^i-j" to iriir" wereseen develop- 

 ing throughout the whole substance of a thick pellicle. He says : 

 " It seemed to me that the differentiation took place after a man- 

 ner essentially similar to that by which an ordinary ' embryonal 

 area' is formed. The small embryos did not appear to represent 

 the earlier stages of large embiyos ; and it seemed rather that 

 spherical masses of the pellicle of different sizes began to un- 

 dergo molecular changes, which termmated in the production of 

 Paramccia of a correspondingly different bulk. Just as in the 

 previously described embryonal areas masses of different sizes 

 began to exhibit signs of change, so also here, spherical portions 

 of the pellicle, differing within the limits above mentioned, began 

 to undergo other heterogenetic changes. This was first indicated 

 by an increased refractiveness of the area (especially when seen 

 a little beyond the focal distance) ; and almost simultaneously 

 a condensation of its outer layer seemed to take place, whereby 

 the outline became sharply and evenly defined. At this stage 

 an actual membrane is scarcely appreciable, and the substance 

 of the embryo (when examined at the right focal distance) 

 scarcely differs in appearance from the granular pellicle of which 

 it had previously formed part. So far as it could be ascertained, 

 the individual embryos did not increase in size, although they 

 went througb the following series of developmental changes. 

 The contained matter became rather more refractive, and the 

 number of granules within diminished considerably, whilst new 

 particles after a time seemed gradually to appear m what 

 was now a mass of contractile protoplasm. These new par- 

 ticles were at first sparingly scattered, though as they were 

 evolved they continued to grow into biscuit-shaped bodies, which 

 sometimes attained the size of rin.Tri7"- AH sizes were distinguish- 

 able ; and many of them moved slowly amongst one anothe"-, 

 owing to the irregular contractions of the semi-fluid protoplasm 

 in which they were embedded. Gradually the number of homo- 

 geneous biscuit-shaped particles increased ; and at last a large 

 vacuole slowly appeared in some portion of the embryo. It 

 lasted for about half a minute, disappeared, and then, after a 

 similar interval, slowly reappeared. Much irregularity, however, 

 was observed in this respect. The next change that occurred was 

 the complete separation of the embryo from the cyst which it 

 filled, and the commencement of slow axial rotations. These 

 rotations gradually became more rapid, though they were not 

 always in one direction. The mass became more and more 

 densely fiUed with the large biscuit-shaped particles, and at last 

 the presence of cilia could be distinctly recognised on one por- 

 tion of the revolving embryo. Then, as M. Pouchet stated, 

 the movements grew more and more irregular and impulsive, so 

 as at last to lead to the rupture of the thin wall of the cyst— 

 when the embryo emerged as a ciUated and somewhat pear- 



shaped sac, provided i\ith a large contractile vesicle at its 

 posterior extremity. ... On emerging from the cyst, all 

 the embryos, although differing somewhat in size, were of the 

 same sha|)e. This closely corresponded with the description 

 given ol Paramecium coif Mill in Pritchard's ' Infusoria,' namely: 

 — ' Obovate, slightly compressed ; ends obtuse, the anterior 

 attenuated and shghtly bent like a hook.' Cilia existed 

 over the whole body, though they were largest and most 

 numerous about the anterior extremity. No trace of an actual 

 buccal cleft could be detected ; and (except in the posterior 

 portion of the body, where a large and very persistent vacuole 

 was situated) the organism was everywhere densely packed with 

 the large, homogeneous, biscuit-shaped particles. For many days 

 these most active Infusoria seemed to undergo little change, 

 though afterwards the number of the contained particles gradually 

 began to diminish, whilst the body became more and more re- 

 gularly ovoid, and a faint appearance of longitudinal striation 

 manifested itself, more especially over its anterior half. At the 

 same time a very faint and almost imperceptible mass ('nucleus') 

 began to appear near the centre of the organism ; and when 

 examined with a magnifying power of 1,670 diameters, a lateral 

 aperture (mouth) ^trinr" i" diameter was seen, which was fringed 

 by short active cilia, arranged like the spokes of a wheel. These 

 peculiarities correspond \'ery closely with those of an embi70 

 Nassiila. Very many were seen with similar characters ; and 

 multitudes existed in all conditions intermediate between this 

 stage and that of the simpler organism which first emerged from 

 the cyst." 



Dr. Bastian concludes by saying : — 



"It will, of course, be seen that the phenomena which I have 

 described as taking place in the ' proligerous pellicle ' may be 

 watched by all who are conversant with such methods of investi- 

 gation. We do not require to call in the aid of the chemist ; we 

 need exercise no special precautions ; the changes in the pellicle 

 are of such a kind that they can be readily appreciated by any 

 skilled microscopist. 



"Just as I have supposed that living matter itself comes into 

 being by virtue of comljinations and re-arrangements taking place 

 amongst invisible colloidal molecules, so now does the study of 

 the changes in the ' pellicle ' absolutely demonstrate the fact that 

 the visible new-bom units of living matter behave in the manner 

 which has been attributed to the invisible colloidal molecules. 

 The living units combine, they undergo molecular re-anange- 

 ments ; and the result of such a process of heterogenetic biocrasis 

 is tlie appearance of larger and more complex organisms ; just as 

 the result of the combination and re-arrangement between the 

 colloidal molecules was the appearance of primordial aggregates 

 of living matter. Living matter is formed, therefore, after a 

 process which is essentially similar to the mode by which 

 higher organisms are derived from lower organisms in the pellicle 

 on an organic infusion. All the steps in the latter process can be 

 watched ; it is one of synthesis— a merging of lower individuali- 

 ties into a higher individuality. And although such a process 

 has been previously almost ignored in the world of living matter, 

 it is no less real than when it takes place amongst the simpler 

 elements of not-living matter. In both cases the phenomena are 

 essentially dependent upon the ' properties ' or ' inherent ten- 

 dencies ' of the matter which displays them." 



Mathematical Society, March 14.— W. Spottiswoode, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — The President made a state- 

 ment to the effect that it had been desirable to apply for a 

 Charter, and that lie had taken the requisite steps for ascertain- 

 ing the right mode of procedure. The proposal made by the 

 President being unanimously agreed to, the matter dropped. — A 

 vote of thanks was passed to Mr. S. M. Drach for his present to 

 the Society of two early and interesting works by Vieta and 

 Ubaldi respectively. — The papers read were :— Prof. Clifford, 

 " On a new expression of Invariants and Covariants by means 

 of aUernate numbers ;" Hon. J. W. Strutt, "On the Vibrations 

 of a gas contained within a rigid spherical cone." The former 

 paper was concerned Avith methods given in " Vorlesungen iiberdie 

 complexen Zalilen und ihre Functionen," by Dr. Hermann Han- 

 kel (1867). In the latter paper the problem discussed was one 

 referred to in a paper on the "Theory of Resonance," Phil. 

 Trans., 1871. It is the only case of the vibration of air 

 within a closed vessel which has hitherto been solved with corn- 

 plete generality. A result anived at was that the pitch is 

 about a fourth higher for the sphere than it is for a closed cylind- 

 rical pipe, whose length is equal the diameter of the sphere.— 



