. 5 and 

 ^^^§ to the 



and 



nfusi 



othe 



r 



on has 



0- 



b 



ht whiti 

 that 



ish 



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soon 



carance 



on 



he^ 



primor- 



' proligerous 



le evolution of 

 already quoted 



1 



? 



THE BEGINNINGS OF II FE. 



267 



^ 



or 



pellicle' of Pouchet. On microscopical examination of 

 the fluid by the highest powers^ as soon as it begins to 

 grow clouded, it will be found swarming with multitudes 

 of mere moving specks or spherical particles, inter- 

 mixed with short stafF-like bodies, known as Bacteria^ 

 which also exhibit more or less active movements. The 

 specks, that have hitherto been called ^ Monads^' 

 ^microzymes^,"" I shall henceforth term plastide-partkles. 

 ' They are primordial particles of living matter, and 

 may be seen, with our present optical powers^ to vary 



between -^~^^^^ and -2 o^cro-'' ^^ diameter. 



An examination of the ^ pellicle^' moreover, shows 

 that it is composed of a dense superficial aggregation 

 of such bodies as may previously have been found 

 diffused through the liquid. In addition to . plastide- 

 particles and Bacteria^ however, other low organisms, of 



; infusion suffi- 

 ' gas liberated, 

 id, and may be 

 ons prevail ^ 

 ition. M.Pas- 

 ie appeal"'' 



; of organic""!' 

 sence an 



d 



the fe- 



i# 



epres 



re) in 



the organ'^ 



ical cor>dit>» 



of tb^^^ 1 

 est co< 



I 



> 



r 

 F 



^ Much confusion results from the classifications of the older natu- 

 ralists, who (following O. F. Miiller) arranged under the same genus 

 [Moitas) the mere moving specks above referred to, and also certain of 

 the most elementary and smaller of the Ciliated Infusoria — of which the 

 so-called Monas leiis is about the most abundant representative. It will 

 now be better, in order not to clash with modern usage, to follow the 



* r ^ ' 



example already set by others, and to restrict the word ' Monad' to the 

 ciliated organisms which have lately been so well described by Cien- 

 kowski and others. 



^ They were called MicrozymcB by Bechamp, but I do not adopt this 

 designation, because it is too special. All minute living particles, whose 

 nature cannot be distinguished by the microscope, may well be desig- 

 nated by one generally applicable name. Minute off-castings from 

 white blood corpuscles are quite indistinguishable microscopically from 

 the Hving specks which appear in fermenting solutions, and yet it would 

 not be reasonable to call the former ' small ferments ' (microzymse). 



" * 



