296 CONCLUSION 



experiment as to the heterogenetic transformations of living matter, 

 we may be perfectly free to admit our utter inability to explain the 

 mutations in question. In this sense they may also be said to 

 be "meaningless." 



Let us now briefly enumerate some of the heterogenetic 

 transformations which even a single observer has been able to 

 recognise in a few years, as some indication of what might be 

 discovered by other workers if they would only be content to 

 search for Nature's secrets in her own laboratories, as I have done. 

 And if, in many cases, they did not witness similar changes to 

 those which have been here described, they would doubtless 

 discover many other transformations just as marvellous— possibly 

 more so. 



In the foregoing pages I have shown that Bacteria of different 

 kinds, Torulas and Moulds, may, and undoubtedly do, arise de novo 

 by heterogenesis ; that various simple Algae, Diatoms, and 

 Phytozoa may take their origin from alien sources ; and that a 

 similar heterogenetic origin is most frequently met with for 

 Amoebas, Actinophrys, Flagellate Monads, Peranemata, and even 

 Ciliated Infusoria. 



The heterogenetic origin of these organisms takes place after 

 one or other of the four following methods : — 



(i) They may arise, as with Bacteria, Torulae and some Amoebse, 

 by the gradual growth of previously invisible, microscopic particles 

 revealing themselves in the substance of their matrix. 



(2) They may arise from the fusion and subsequent individual- 

 isation of groups of Bacteria, as in the origin of Flagellate 

 Monads, Amoebas, Fungus-germs, and Ciliated Infusoria from 

 transformed Zoogloea aggregates, in the pellicle on a hay, or other 

 organic, infusion. 



(3) They may take origin, as with other Amoebae, Flagellate 

 Monads, Actinophrys, Peranemata, Fungus-germs, and Ciliated 

 Infusoria, by a simultaneous segmentation of the entire substance 

 of some matrix into a number of more or less equal parts, each 

 of which develops into similar representatives of one or other of 

 these new forms of life. 



(4) Or, the whole of a given matrix may be transformed into 

 a new form of life, as when Chlorophyll Corpuscles are converted 

 into AmoebEB, Actinophrys, or some of the simpler Algae ; when 

 the cells of a parasitic Alga are converted into Diatoms ; or when 



