... 12 c] These spores may form in the middle or at the ends of the rods (Fig 12) They may use up all the protoplasm of the rod in their formation, or they may use only a small part of it, the rod ... Whatever be the method of the formation of the spore, its purpose in the life of the bacterium is always the same It serves as a means of keeping the species alive under conditions of adversity ... noticed, and the force of the experiments of Schwann was silently ignored Until the sixth decade of the century, therefore, these organisms, which have since become the basis of a new branch of science,...