rB^ 



302 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



/ 



the thick pellicle of the deep solution^ whilst not a 

 single one appears in that which is shallow. Only one 

 mode of interpreting such facts seems possible. 



Lastly^ it was long ago pointed out by Treviranus 

 and others^ as we have before stated^ that the kinds of 

 ciliated Infusoria met with in solutions varied with 



■ n 



the nature of the solutions themselves. This has since 

 been abundantly confirmed. M. Pouchet has shown 

 that different results are always to be obtained 

 varying the organic substances^ even when these are 

 exposed to the same air and dissolved in portions of 

 the same water \ The amount of organic matter 

 existing in the solution will also influence not only 

 the rapidity of appearance^ but even the kind of or- 



^ M. Pouchet says (' Nouvelles Experiences,* p. 127) : — ' Bory de Saint 

 Vincent, Treviranus, Gerard, et Berard avaient assure d'apres leurs ex- 

 periences, que, quand on melait ensemble deux liqueurs fermentescibles 

 dirferentes, on obtenait de ce melange des etres organises qui diffcraient 

 de ceux que produisait chacune des liqueurs separees.' Again, he says : 

 ' Beaucoup de substances organiques que nous denaturons pour nos be- 

 soins, donnent frequemment naissance a des productions speciales par- 

 faitement definies et qui ne croissent nulle parte ailleurs. . . . Les Mucor 



r 



pygmceus et elegans ne se developpent que sur les aliments qui com- 

 mencaient a se putrefier et sur la colle seche ; le Sporendonema casei ne 

 vit que sur le fromage ; le Chcatorniuvi chartanim sur les vieux papiers qui 

 s'alterent ; le Sporotrichnn niberrimzim envahit le drap pourri ; le Torula 

 muralis n'a encore ete observe que sur les murailles recrepies. Qui 

 pourrait dire, ainsi que s'ecrie M. Fee qui a rassemble ces faits, ou etaient 



k ces produits?' (p. 183.) Hundreds of such facts might be cited, so 

 that, as M. Trecul suggests, if it were quite true that all these organisms 

 were derived from spores which pre-existed in the atmosphere, our 

 powers of locomotion might be to a certain extent impaired! 



i «' : ., of 



is 



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i ,iiff. been ascert' 

 and elect! 



% which are 



iiis, are all more 



inked influeni 



-iemetwithiii 

 iind of 



mcx 



■m about in 

 ■' ftrent inks: 

 '■p5°J to the i 



in 



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^ as stror 



cannc 



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ail 



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strati 



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in? 



■"^'ence 



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les spores de ces vegetaux avant, que rindustrie humaine n'eut donne lieu I v ^ iQC (j^ 



95 



the 



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air 



^of 



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