ZOOLOGY. 331 



stances were always allowed to cool in the same stream of gas before 

 the bulbs were sealed. The microscopic examination of the contents 

 of the bulbs took place at various times, from three to four months 

 after their inclosure. In every case but one in which the substance 

 had not been boiled, low organisms were found apparently irrespective 

 of the kind of gas in which they had to exist. The case in which they 

 were not seen was that of meat inclosed in a tube filled with nitrogen. 

 This bulb burst apparently spontaneously, and its doing so mi/ !> 

 looked upon as a proof that in it also some change had taken pl:i :, 

 most likely connected with the development of organic life. Dr. 

 Childs concludes by saying that no definite conclusion can be drawn 

 from so limited a range of experiments ; but it is worthy of remark 

 that organisms were found here under the precise circumstances in 

 which M. Pasteur states that they cannot and do not exist. The very 

 abnormal conditions under which some of these so-called organisms 

 are found would render it doubtful whether bacteriums, vibrios, &e. 

 ought to be considered as independent organisms in any higher sense 

 than are white blood-corpuscles, pollen grains, mucus-corpuscles, or 

 spermatozoa. 



M. Pasteur's Conclusions respecting Spontaneous Generation. At a 

 recent meeting of the Academy of Sciences, at Paris, M. Pasteur also 

 reverted to the controversy on this subject. In his recent memoir, he 

 stated, on the faith of numerous experiments, that it was always possible 

 to take away from any determined spot a limited, yet notable, amount of 

 air which has not undergone any physical or chemical change, and which 

 was nevertheless quite unable to provoke any alteration in an eminently 

 putrescible liquid. MM. Pouchet and Joly, having affirmed that this 

 result was erroneous, M. Pasteur defied them to prove it so. MM. Joly 

 and Musset, said : " If a single one of our tubes remain unaltered, we 

 will loyally acknowledge our defeat." And M. Pouchet also said : I de- 

 clare that, on any part of the globe whence I shall take a cubic decimeter 

 of air, when I shall place it in contact with a putrescible liquid in a her- 

 metically sealed tube, the latter will invariably become filled with living 

 organisms." In conformity with the demand of MM. Pouchet, Joly, and 

 Musset, accepted by M. Pasteur, the Academy has appointed a committee 

 composed of several of its most illustrious members, MM. Flourens, 

 Dumas, Brougniart, Milne-Edwards, and Balard to repeat in its presence 

 the experiments, the results of which have been invoked as either 

 favorable or contrary to the doctrine of spontaneous generations. 



