268 Spontaneous Oeneration. [^jSLlS!o™iff 
the proligerons pellicle ; these had a yellowish colour, the celk 
being so numerous as to appear like an intricate network (Fig. 27). 
These appeared to me to be the same as had broken away from the 
hbrillae of the flesh, the same as Fig. 6. 
On the 12th the molecules, which are quite distinct from the 
cells before spoken of, had arranged themselves into those oviform 
masses described by Pouchet, and the same as I have seen in both 
liver and beef (Fig. 29). I also observed to-day several fine 
thread-like filaments of a bluish colour, having just the appearance 
of much-elongated vibriones (Fig. 28). 
From very careful watching of this infusion it appears to me 
that the oleaginous cells are in themselves capable of producing 
these vegetable growths ; for I have carefully examined this in- 
fusion, to see if I could detect anything like a sporule or vegetable 
cell, and have failed to do so ; and yet in about forty-eight hours 
after the infusion was made, and had passed through such a fiery 
ordeal, plants were developed, and grew with great rapidity. 
In conclusion, I must say that I conducted all my experiments 
vdth the greatest care, so as to prevent and protect myself against 
objections that I am fully aware might be raised against such ex- 
periments. There is one thing which must strike every one that 
has paid attention to the experiments prosecuted by the various 
naturalists, and that is that we all obtain very nearly the same results 
at all seasons of the year. Whether it be in France, Scotland, or in 
Devonshire, the same animals are developed, the same movements 
and the same formative processes go on in the molecules, whether 
they be of fish, flesh, or fowl. The same laws are ever and con- 
stantly at work, as well in the laboratory, in our rooms, and in the 
open air. And so far as all our experiments have carried us, we 
have seen that life resides in the most minute atom that our instru- 
ments are able to detect, and with the same force in proportion to 
its size as that of the most ponderous creature that inhabits the 
globe, and yet we cannot cry, Eureka. The great mystery of 
mysteries remains the same. — Paper read before the Devonshire 
Association for the Advancement of Science, July. 
