THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



^ 



erent sizes, from 

 •) 



iverse shapes 

 into Mes. 



1 



iated chains 

 large number 

 ere 2:raniilaf 



] vacuo 



Iated 



in 



rable nuffib« 



increasing 



tmeter, up *» 

 uaiitity of 



iiq' 



CQ'^ 



tefl'5; 



bave 



tee" 





s 



1 



\ 



44^ 



broken at intervals^ and bearing bud-like projections^ 

 each of which was capped with a single spore. 



Experiment b. An infusion of common cress {Lepl- 

 dtum sativum)^ to which a few of the leaves and stalks 

 of the plant were added. 



This was kept in the same way as the last solu- 

 tion, and was similarly exposed to sun-light for a 



few days. 

 After nine weeks^ and before the neck of the flask 



was broken^ the vacuum was found to be well preserved. 



The reaction of the fluid was distinctly acid^ but there 



was no notable odour of any kind. The fluid itself 



was tolerably clear and free from scum, though there 



was a considerable quantity of a dirty-looking flocculent 



sediment at the bottom of the flask, amongst the debris 



of the cress. On microscopical examination of portions 



of these fragments, most of the cells in the stalks were 



found crowded with very actively-moving granules. In 



some of the leaves the chlorophyle was not much 



altered, whilst 



of decomposition — being in some cells wholly replaced 



by a blackish-brown granular material. 



in others it presented various stages 



Large 



quan- 



tities of such matter also existed, either dispersed or 

 aggregated, amongst the sediment; and in some of it 

 three minute and delicate Vrotamoeh^ were seen, creep- 

 ing with moderately-rapid, slug-like, movements and 

 changes of form. They contained no nucleus, and 

 presented only a few granules in their interior. Pattly 

 in the same drop, and partly in others, there v/ere also 



