SOLID BODIES IN THE ATMOSPHERE. 267 



bodies presenting no structure^ or at least only feeble 

 traces of it, and perhaps to be called cells. I had not sent 

 gun-cotton, as I intended, to Mr. Crookes, fearing the 

 rules of the post ; otherwise there would have been more 

 certainty that the bodies spoken of did not exist previously 

 on the cotton. However, Mr. Dancer, who has examined 

 cotton with the microscope oftener than most persons, even 

 of those experienced in the subject, had never observed a 

 similar appearance. 



'^ The liquid had also a number of similar bodies floating 

 in it. 



" It was then that Mr. Crookes sent a liquid which he 

 had condensed from the air of an infected cowshed at a 

 space a little above the head of a diseased cow. This was 

 also examined, and it presented similar indications of very 

 numerous small bodies. Not being a professed micro- 

 scopist, I shall not attempt a description, but add that 

 they clearly belonged to the organic world, and were not 

 in all cases mere debris. We found also one body a good 

 deal larger than the rest ; it resembled somewhat a Para- 

 mecium, although clearly not one. 



" We found no motion whatever ; and only this latter 

 substance could be adduced as an absolute proof of any 

 living organized being present. Next day I examined the 

 same liquid; and, whether from the fact of time being 

 given for development or from other causes, there was a 

 very abundant motion. There were at least six specimens 

 in the field at a time, of a body resembling the Euglena, 

 although smaller than I have seen it. When these minute 

 bodies occur, it is clear that more may exist ; and germs in 

 this early stage are too indefinite to be described. The 

 existence of the vital spark in the organic substances in the 

 air alluded to is all I wish to assert, confirming by a dif- 

 ferent method the observations of others. It might, of 

 course, be said that since the bottle was opened at Mr. 



