26 ORIGIN OF LOWEST ORGANISMS. 



the first organisms which display themselves in fer- 

 mentations or putrefactions, and that in a very large 

 majority of the cases in which fermentation occurs 

 in closed vessels they are the only organisms which 

 make their appearance.* And yet, notwithstand- 

 ing these facts, M. Pasteur says, in reference to the 

 common form of Bacterium : " This infusorial animal 

 is so small that one cannot distinguish its germ, and 

 still less fix upon the presence of this germ, if it were 

 known, amongst the organized corpuscles of the dust 

 which is suspended in the air." 



Here, then, we have a confession from M. Pasteur 

 himself, that all evidence fails, where it is most wanted, 

 in support of his hypothesis. 



If a large number of fermentations begin with the 

 presence of Bacteria as the only living things, and if 

 in a number of cases no other organisms ever occur, it 

 is useless to adduce as evidence, in proof of the view 

 that fermentations are always initiated by air-derived 

 organisms, the fact that certain corpuscles (supposed 

 to be spores of fungi) are recognizable in the atmo- 

 sphere capped by the distinct statement t that 

 Bacteria or their germs are not recognizable. If Bac- 

 teria are not recognizable in the atmosphere, what 

 scientific evidence is there that the fermentations in 

 which these alone occur are initiated by Bacteria 

 derived from the atmosphere, or from certain imagi- 



* Loc cit. p. 56. f See p. 57. 



