fin 



286 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



In spite of all that has been said upon the subject 

 however^ no success has yet attended the attempt to 

 show that Bacteria usually derive their origin from 



Fungi, 



although the 



concurrent testimony of many 



organism 



1 



observers tend to show that they may, after undergoing 

 various developmental phases, grow into Fungi. The 

 actual origin of the plastide-particles or micrococci, 

 therefore, still remains an open question. 



What I have said concerning the appearance of 

 Torula^ and their derivation from minute particles, 

 seems to apply also to Sarclna^ though my observations 

 on this subject are less complete and satisfactory. I 

 am even doubtful as to whether i'^m^/^ is really a living 



It was originally discovered by Prof. Good- 

 sir^, in fluid vomited by a patient suffering from disease 

 of the stomach. Subsequently it has been discovered 

 in other situations — in urine by various observers, in 

 the lungs by Prof. Virchow, in fluid from the ven- 



rature in order to produce nests of microzymes, and if such nests are, as 

 Hallier states, to be found in all contagious liquids, the fact can hardly 

 fail to have a certain significance in its bearing on the etiology of 

 infective diseases ;' but then he adds : — * At present there is no ground 

 for stating either the one or the other. The former is denied by all 

 botanists, the latter by all pathologists.* 



^ See Appendix A., pp. ii — v. 



2 See 'Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journal,' vol. Ivii., 1842. The de- 

 scription then given was as follows : — ' Sarcina, plants coriaceous, 

 transparent, consisting of 16 to 64 four-celled square frustules, arranged 

 parallel to one another in a square transparent matrix. Species i. 

 Sarcina ventrimli (mihi), Frustules 16, colour light brown, transparent 

 matrix very perceptible between the frustules, less so around the edges ; 

 size 800 to lOODth inch. Hab., the human stomach.* 



*ed to f'''' 



known cor 



e5 



"'1 



km, from an .-Vn 



ir, 



ition, or fro: 

 Berkeley sa) 



iate and 



pro( 



U: I have 



's containint^ 



t^ not i 



m ( 



fe 



inli 



^''Penmente 

 ^•^tly acid fl 



Partia 



^«f Her 

 '^*fs of Pa,, . . 



