^£ 



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111 



ntl 



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sent the 



niself 



• form of 



lar 



ii 



i 



§e^ elk 



^Puscles wit; 



--^^3 andotltj' 

 These 



16 



] 



idine, showfe 

 their metai' 



and on aces: 



r 



Baitm,t 



er the nam;: 



i 



\ 



:tead of 

 essel, was s«' 

 ■ the coluni 



■I 



, ,J 



in 



of the » 



become f 



I 



y 



tra 



n 



ites, 



nsitio" '^ 



vessels «^^ 



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r^^ BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



321 



one another/ M 



■^ 1/ /V Important to note 



find any of 



ves- 



through the liquid "which surrounded the latlclferous 



sels^ To account for the presence of the organisms 

 under such circumstances^ only two suppositions seem 

 possible. As M. Trecul says :— ^ Either they are born 

 from germs proceeding from without^ or else they pro- 

 ceed from a modification of the elements of the latex. 

 If they owe their origin to pre-existing germs, how 

 are these germs introduced by thousands throughout the 

 whole length of vessels filled with a dense fluid so 

 consistent as to be no longer able to flow, and to such 

 an extent as completely to substitute themselves in the 

 place of the juice itself? How can one conceive, whilst 

 admitting such an invasion of germs, that small islets 

 of latex should have remained intact here and there, 

 and should have been able to resist this invasion which 

 pressed round them on all sides ? Is it not at least as 

 probable that these organisms may have been born 

 from a transformation of the latex?' 



In a subsequent communication made in Septem- 

 ber, 1865, M. Trecul^ reported that he had con- 

 firmed the results previously arrived at by fresh obser- 

 vations upon similar plants, and also upon others 

 belonging to different families. In one of these, Ticus 

 carica^ he had even discovered similar starch-bearing 

 fungoid organisms within the completely closed cells of 

 the medullary tissue, — a fact which seemed to make 



1 ( 



Compt. Rend,' t. Ixi. p. 432. 



VOL. II. 



Y 



