264 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERT. 



EXPERIMENTS ON LIVING ORGANISMS IN HEATED WATER. 



Prof. Jeffries Wyrnan, in the " American Journal of Science," 

 for Sept., 1867, has communicated the results of his experiments 

 on the formation of infusoria in boiled solutions of organic matter. 

 All living beings found under the above circumstances have been 

 attributed either, 1, to organisms, or their germs, supposed to be 

 contained in the fluid experimented with, or the air included in the 

 flasks ; or, 2, to the direct transformation of organic matter into 

 new living beings, independently of any germs or living organ- 

 isms whatever, or, in other words, to spontaneous generation. 

 The absolute proof of spontaneous generation, in view of the 

 abundant existence of the very minute spores or germs of infuso- 

 ria in the air, and the difficulty of being sure that all such have 

 been destroyed by high temperature or kept out during the exper- 

 iments, must come from the formation of living organisms out of 

 inorganic matter. The evidence adduced is derived, 1, from the 

 phenomena of hot springs ; 2, from the appearance or non-appear- 

 ance of infusoria in solutions boiled for different periods of time, 

 and exposed only to pure air; 3, from the observed action of heat 

 on the living organisms which the solution experimented with was 

 known to contain. 



The following are the conclusions which appear to him to be 

 justified by the observations and experiments recorded in the 

 paper : 



1. In thermal waters plants belonging to the lower kinds of 

 algae live in water the temperature of which, in some instances, 

 rises as high as 208 F. 



2. Solutions of organic matter boiled for 25 minutes, and ex- 

 posed only to air which had passed through. iron tubes heated 

 to redness, became the seat of infusorial life. 



3. Similar solutions contained in flasks hermetically sealed, and 

 then immersed in boiling water for periods varying from a few 

 minutes to 4 hours, also became the seat of infusorial life. The 

 infusoria were chiefly vibrios, bacteriums, and monads. 



4. No ciliated infusoria, unless monads are such, appeared in 

 the experiments referred to in the above conclusions. 



5. No infusoria of any kind appeared if the boiling was pro- 

 longed beyond a period of 5 hours. 



6. Infusoria having the faculty of locomotion, lost this when ex- 

 posed in water to a temperature of from 120 to 134 F. 



7. If vibrios, bacteriums, and monads are added to a clear and 

 limpid organic solution, this becomes turbid from their multiplica- 

 tion in from 1 to 2 days. If, however, they have been previously 

 boiled, the solution does not become turbid until from 1 to 2 days 

 later, and in some of the experiments not sooner than does the 

 same solution to which no infusoria have been added. 



THE RELATION OF PLUMAGE TO MODE OF NIDIFICATION IN 



BIRDS. 



Mr. Wallace made a communication on this subject to the Brit- 

 ish Association, in 1867, of which the following is an abstract: 



