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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
means in accord about the peculiar structure of Amoeba, and that 
there is a great discrepancy of opinion regarding its mode of 
life, nature of movement, and manner of reproduction. 
As the subject is important and yet by no means difficult, 
and as the anatomy and peculiarities of the Amoebae can be 
examined by anyone possessing a good microscope and patience, 
the following studies have been brought forward in the order in 
which they were carried out, so as to assist any observer who 
may care to commence a similar course of investigation. 
If anyone will go to Hampstead Heath, and, after enjoying 
the view over Harrow and Hendon, will walk down to the 
bottom of the valley which in summer is a mass of ferns and 
moss, he will find a small stream with a very boggy bank flow- 
ing at last into a pond. Here and there the running water 
flows over a rusty bottom, and moves long lines of confervoid 
growth in gentle waves. This is the home of Amoeba, for there 
is pure well-aerated water and favourite food in abundance. 
At the very outset of the investigation it is necessary to 
admit that Amoeba comfortable, and Amoeba in bodily dis- 
comfort may present very different appearances ; and that a 
well-nourished individual, roaming in plenty of water and well 
supplied with air and food, will probably look very differently 
from one in a thin film of water with a piece of thin glass not very 
lightly put upon it. In fact, Amoeba well fed, free, and natural, 
is a very different creature from Amoeba cribbed, cabined, and 
confined, and anxious about things in general. The one moves 
along in a definite manner, has a meaning in its equally definite 
changes of form, and its life is long, and has a definite termina- 
tion; the other is ‘all abroad,’ pokes out projections and re-* 
tracts them in a most disorderly manner, and soon comes to a 
point in its career when its protoplasm loses its ‘ subtle influence,’ 
and yet without molecular change, dies. This last is the type 
usually drawn in books, and it only slightly resembles the first. 
Then it is necessary to remember, before plunging into notes 
and drawings, that if the unborn young of the higher animals 
during their stages of growth, resemble animals simpler in con- 
struction than those which they will finally be like, some of the 
immature lower animals may resemble the Amoeba. In other 
words, we must know that the Amoeba-like thing we are going 
to work at, will always lead an Amoeban life and die and re- 
produce Amoebas, and not turn to something else in its old age ; 
or that it is the offspring of an Amoeba. Moreover, in the study 
of the creature, it is necessary to speculate upon the possibility 
of Amoeba having a romping childhood, a restless youth, and a 
ruminating senility ; and that under the influence of exuberance 
of growth, the desire for amatory companionship, and the sedate- 
ness of old age, it may present many kinds of activities and 
