Disease germs : their real nature an original investigation / by Lionel S. Beale.

  • Beale, Lionel S. (Lionel Smith), 1828-1906.
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Disease germs : their real nature an original investigation / by Lionel S. Beale. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ment into complete yeast cells, so that by the artificial division of one, thousands may result. And if the soft bioplasmic matter which can be expressed from the yeast cell be placed under favourable conditions, every particle of it may germinate. This matter alone furnishes the germs, it alone grows and appropriates the nutrient material, in short it alone manifests phenomena peculiar to living things. The little buds or gemmules above referred to, de- tached from the parent mass, and capable of indepen- dent existence, are, many of them, much less than the tott'ooo-th of an inch in diameter. But each is living and will grow, under favourable circumstances, into a body like the parent cell, giving origin in its turn to countless descendants. These very minute particles divide and subdivide independently, producing still more minute particles, capable of growth and division like themselves, not one of which, however, may be developed into an ordinary yeast cell like those represented in Fig. 6, plate I. This mode of multi- plication may go on for a long period, perhaps for an indefinite time, if certain conditions persist. But if any one of these excessively minute particles falls into a medium containing suitable pabulum, it will appro- priate it, and soon pass on to a higher stage of de- velopment. In this case branches may be formed, as represented in Fig. ii, plate II., and more advanced in Fig. 12. See also Plate III., fig. 22. From them may proceed stems which grow upwards into the air.