ORIGIN OF LOWEST ORGANISMS. 97 



the air had been taken the combined evidence tends 

 strongly against the view of M. Pasteur. Since 

 the germs in the fluids and in the flasks, in each set 

 of experiments, had been previously destroyed by 

 ebullition, and since in each set, also, air of the same 

 character had been admitted to the boiled fluids, the 

 different results seemed to show that fermentation or 

 non-fermentation, in such cases, depends wholly upon 

 the quality of the fluids employed. 



Other evidence which is so much vaunted by M. 

 Pasteur and his supporters, as to the possibility 

 of inducing fertility in previously sterile flasks, by 

 the addition of a portion of asbestos containing the 

 solid particles filtered from the atmosphere,* is also 

 equally valueless for confirming the proposition that 

 fermentation is only capable of being initiated by 

 living ferments. The same asbestos which may 

 contain living spores or organisms (" germs "), does 



i 



undoubtedly contain many decomposable particles 

 and fragments of organic matter, f The previously 

 barren solution may therefore be rendered fertile by the 



* Loc. cit., p. 40. 



f Speaking of experiments in closed flasks, in which the air 

 has been either calcined or filtered, Gerhardt (' Chimie Orga- 

 nique,' t. IV. p. 545) says : " Si dans les premieres experiences 

 1'air calcine ou tamise s'est montre beaucoup moins actif que 

 1'air non soumis a ce traitement, c'est que la chaleur rouge ou le 

 tamisage enleve a 1'air non seulement les germes des infusoires 

 et des moisissures, mais encore les debris des matieres en decom- 

 position qui y sont suspendues, c'est-a-dire les ferments dont 

 1'activite viendrait s'ajouter a celle de 1'oxygene de 1'air." 



II 



