The specimen jar

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

The jar had travelled for nine months in a crate of salt and instruments. When Dr Vale raised it towards the lamp, the thing inside resembled a white glove clenched around nothing. The writing on its label had dissolved into a grey stain.

“Quite lifeless,” he said, setting it beside his catalogue.

His clerk was sharpening a pencil when a pale strand appeared to uncurl. At that same instant, the lamp wick fluttered, throwing bands of light through the curved glass. Once the flame steadied, the strand could no longer be seen. Dr Vale turned the jar slowly, but the cloudy liquid folded the creature into a different shape each time.

The clerk began to write the word “unknown”. Before he had finished it, a small circle appeared against the inside of the glass, as clear as a seal pressed into wax. It could have been a bubble; it might have been an old mark. Dr Vale carried the lamp to the far end of the table. The shadows moved with it. The circle did not.

Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to make the reader question whether the specimen is lifeless. Support your answer with references to the passage.