72 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



tions; and the fact that they yield Torulse so com- 

 monly supplies evidence especially convincing in 

 regard to the main question since it is universally 

 admitted that a brief exposure to a temperature 

 of 60-65 C. is fatal to all such organisms. 



In these yellow solutions, as in those of the 

 previous series, several bodies of uncertain nature 

 have been met with. One of them was encoun- 

 tered over and over again in the form of what 

 appeared to be mere irregular masses of granular 

 material, though they were always associated with 

 one or more minute bubbles of gas. Two of these 

 bodies are shown in Plate 8, Fig. 48; and the 

 presence of the gas bubbles is certainly strongly 

 suggestive that these aggregates may be organ- 

 isms of some kind. 



Being desirous of ascertaining whether positive 

 results could be obtained with colourless solutions 

 exposed to temperatures of 140 and 145 C., I 

 had, on May 3d, heated five tubes, charged with 

 such a solution, to 141 C. for five minutes, and 

 five others to 145 C. for five minutes. As the 

 colourless solution used in the previous twenty ex- 

 periments had contained only two drops of the 

 dilute sodium silicate to the ounce, and still gave 



