r^ 



446 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



There were no traces of Torul^e or Leptothrix fila- 



ments. 



Experiment f. A solution containing ten grains of 



amnionic tartrate and three grains of sodic phosphate, 



with half a grain of new cheese, to an ounce of 



distilled water. 



The vacuum having been ascertained to be well 

 preserved, the flask was opened in the early part of the 

 sixth week. The fluid was found to have a neutral 

 reaction, and there was a well-marked, whitish deposit 

 at the bottom of the vessel. On microscopical examina- 

 tion no Bacteria^ ToruU^ or Fungi were found, but 



there were a great number of fibres, exactly like un- 



segmented Leptothrix filaments, growing from the midst 

 of aggregations of the irregular particles of which the 

 deposit was composed. Other filaments were seen 

 having a close resemblance to the spiral fibres met 

 with in somewhat similar solutions which were exposed 

 to a lower temperature 1. They were, however, in 

 smaller masses, the spirals were less marked, and 

 transitional states existed between them and the fibres 

 which resembled Leptothrix ". 



^ See Appendix A, pp. v — ix. 



^ Since this was written I have seen Leptothrix (or Spiruli?ia) filaments, 

 growing so as to form quite irregular, spirally-disposed masses of dif- 

 ferent sizes. These were obtained from the surface of water, in which 

 a few young twigs of the common elder had been immersed for five or 

 six days. All stages were seen, also, between such spiral masses and 

 more ordinary Bacteria and Vibrio forms. As the latter elongated they 

 gradually became curved. Segmentations were seen, at intervals, in the 

 internal solid protoplasm of which they were principally composed. 



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