l62 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



microscopical examination,' and study of the develop. 

 ment, of some of the primordial forms of life) are 

 substantiated by the most rigorous experimentation. 

 No other conclusion remains for us but that the several 

 organisms are products of the direct developmental 

 unfolding of new-born specks of living matter. And 

 yet amongst these forms we see Bacteria, Vibrlones, 

 Leptothrix, and ToruU ■ Fungus filaments with and 

 without fructification- "Protamceba and flagellated 

 Monads-, Fediastre^ and Algoid filaments. All these 

 are therefore proved, with the greatest certainty, to be 

 interchangeable forms which may be assumed on different 

 occasions by newly-evolved specks of living matter. 



But if all this may take place within our superheated 

 experimental flasks, what wider possibilities are opened 

 up concerning the evolutional powers of the unimpaired 

 organic solutions which exist in all damp places upon 

 the surface of our earth, and in our ponds, lakes, rivers, 

 and ocean beds ! Here imagination alone can aid us, 

 and yet analogy stands with her ever-ready though 

 often deceitful torch. 



We cannot ignore the fact that such solutions as 

 we have employed in our experiments are not pro- 

 ductive of any much greater variety of organisms even 

 when exposed to the air j whilst unheated infusions of 

 vegetable matter (such as portions of aquatic plants 

 or young twigs of land plants) readily teem with all 

 that endless variety of organic forms which proves so 



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