852 Carpenter on the Microscope. 



the deposits noticed by Professor Williamson in the scales 

 of fishes ; and it is " probable that by a further study of the 

 relations between their structure and that of true bones and 

 teeth, the principle of molecular coalescence will be found in 

 some degree applicable to the special peculiarities of the latter." 



Dr. Carpenter retains the opinions he has expressed on 

 former occasions as to the distinction that separates the lower 

 forms of animal and vegetable life, and considers we are " justi- 

 fied in laying it down as the most ready and certain differential 

 character we are acquainted with, between those protophytes 

 and protozoa which are apparently most closely related to each 

 other in the simplification of their structure, that the former 

 (with the exception of the fungi) decompose carbonic acid under 

 the influence of light, and acquire a red or green colour from 

 the new compounds which they form in the interior ; whilst the 

 latter, having no such power, receive animal and vegetable 

 organisms, or particles of such, into the interior of their bodies, 

 where they extract from them the ready-prepared nutriment 

 they are fitted to yield." As we mentioned in our last 

 number Dr. Wallich supplies some reasons for doubting the 

 validity of this distinction as regards the deep sea Rhizopods, 

 and the transformation of vegetable matter into the Amoeboid 

 condition seems to favour the opinion that no strict severance 

 between the two kingdoms really exists. We must, however, 

 wait before the full significance of the occurrence of vegetable 

 Amoebae can be ascertained. Dr. Hicks has not been able to 

 give us a complete history of the Amoebae formed from the 

 protoplasmic contents of the roots of mosses, and Dr. Carpenter 

 think that there is no sufficient evidence to confirm the state- 

 ments of Dr. de Bary that the sporules of certain fungi (such 

 as the JEthalium septicum) feed like Rhizopods, by taking in 

 foreign substances, after they have assumed the Amoeboid form. 



We have spoken of Dr. Carpenter's book as an excellent 

 introduction to the study of the various branches of microscopic- 

 investigation, but it must not be imagined by those who are unac- 

 quainted with the merits of former editions, that it bears any 

 resemblance to that very unsatisfactory kind of literature which 

 is usually described as u popular science." It is an admirable 

 concentration of substantial learning and profound research, 

 which could only have been made by an author whose own in- 

 vestigations had extended over an unusual range, and who 

 possessed a rare acquaintance with the labours of other distin- 

 guished men. More than any book that could be named it will 

 assist to form a class of genuine microscopic observers, and no 

 intelligent person who can procure an instrument, need ever 

 want objects to examine while its pages are at hand to indicate 

 treasures that every locality can afford. 



