46 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



120 C. to 135 C., there were no less than sixty 

 positive results. The failures among the twenty 

 tubes heated only to 100 C. actually numbered 

 fourteen, and were so very numerous apparently 

 because the sample of sodium silicate employed 

 was not a favourable one, and solutions in which 

 it was used would yield organisms only after long 

 periods. The tubes making up these fourteen 

 failures had been examined after seven to nine 

 months, while the six tubes yielding positive re- 

 sults had been examined after nine or twelve 

 months. 1 And similarly, among the eighty-five 

 trials above referred to, the twenty-five negative 

 results were with tubes which had been opened 

 after seven to nine months, and the sixty positive 

 results with those which had been opened after 

 nine to twelve months, and whose contents had 

 also been more thoroughly examined. 



1 The exposure being largely to open-air winter temperatures 

 and dull illumination. 



