to the above estimate they had to be made at the rate of about 50 per second[290]. [Illustration: Fig. 69. Hair of _Trianea_, in glycerine. (After Berthold.)] The little delicate beads which stud the long thin pseudopodia of a foraminifer, such as _Gromia_, or which in like manner appear upon the cylindrical film of protoplasm which covers the long radiating spicules of _Globigerina_, represent an identical phenomenon. Indeed there are many cases, in which we may study in a protoplasmic filament the whole process of formation of such beads. If we squeeze out on to a slide the viscid contents of a mistletoe berry, the long sticky threads into which the substance runs shew the whole phenomenon particularly well. Another way to demonstrate it was noticed many years ago by Hofmeister and afterwards explained by Berthold. The hairs of certain water-plants, such as Hydrocharis or Trianea, constitute very long cylindrical cells, the protoplasm being supported, and maintained in equilibrium by its contact with the cell-wall. But if we immerse the filament in some dense fluid, a little sugar-solution for instance, or dilute glycerine, the cell-sap tends to diffuse outwards, the protoplasm parts company with its surrounding and supporting wall, {235} and lies free as a protoplasmic cylinder in the interior of the cell. Thereupon it immediately shews signs of instability, and commences to disrupt. It tends to gather into spheres, which however, as in our illustration, may be prevented by their narrow quarters from assuming the complete spherical form; and in between these spheres, we have more or less regularly alternate ones, of smaller size[291]. Similar, but less regular, beads or droplets may be caused to appear, under stimulation by an alternating current, in the protoplasmic threads within the living cells of the hairs of Tradescantia. The explanation usually given is, that the viscosity of the protoplasm is reduced, or its fluidity increased; but an increase of the surface tension would seem a more likely reason[292]. [Illustration: Fig. 70. Phases of a Splash. (From Worthington.)] ―――――――――― We may take note here of a remarkable series of phenomena, which, though they seem at first sight to be of a very different order, are closely related to the phenomena which attend and which bring about the breaking-up of a liquid cylinder or thread.