460 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



sacs of the several forms in the order in which our illustration gives 

 them, the data are as follow, viz. : Fig. 1 survived after exposure to 

 250 Fahr. ; Figs. 2 and 4, 300 Fahr. ; Fig. 3 (which produced living 

 young), 180 Fahr.; Figs. 5 and 6, 250 Fahr. That is to say, the 

 spore, after the heating to the above-named temperatures, were fol- 

 lowed step by step until they reached the parent condition. The 

 adults of each form were absolutely destroyed at from 130 to 140 

 Fahr. Thus, if all the examples be taken together, it will be seen 

 that on the average the spore have a capacity to resist heat better 

 than the adult in the proportion of eleven to six. This is surely im- 

 portant. 



Now, until Dr. Bastian's promised "new results" ' have appeared, 

 I believe I am justified in affirming that the strongest cases on which 

 even he relies for " spontaneous generation " are recorded on pp. 175- 

 1 80 of his " Evolution and the Origin of Life." They are thus intro- 

 duced : " After this I may, perhaps, be deemed fully justified in quot- 

 ing two very typical experiments for the further consideration of 

 those who stave off the belief in spontaneous generation either by 

 relying on insufficient reasons for doubting the influence of boiling 

 water, or because of their following Pasteur, Colin, and others, in sup- 

 posing that certain peculiar bacteria-germs are not killed except by a 

 brief exposure to a heat of 227 or 230 Fahr. For even if we could 

 grant them these limits, of what avail would the concession be ... . 

 in the face of the following experiments ? " The details of the exper- 

 iments follow. They are alike in method, and we will concern our- 

 selves only with the second. A strong infusion of common cress, with 

 a few of the leaves and stalks of the plants, were inclosed in a flask, 

 which was hermetically sealed while the fluid within was boiling. It 

 was then introduced into a digester and gradually heated, and after- 

 ward kept at a temperature of 270-275 Fahr. for twenty minutes, and 

 was retained at a temperature, if the time of heating and cooling be 

 considered, over 230 Fahr. for one hour. This flask was opened after 

 nine weeks. The reaction was acid ; the odor was not striking. On 

 microscopical examination with a ^j-inch objective " there appeared 

 more than a dozen very active monads." 



Now, fortunately, Dr. Bastian has not only carefully measured and 

 described these organisms, but he has drawn them, and they are 

 reproduced on the frontispiece of the book. He describes them as 

 the aoVff f an i ncn in diameter ; they were provided with a long, 

 rapidly-moving lash (flagellum), by which granules were freely moved 

 about. But, besides this, " there were many smaller, motionless, tail- 

 less spherules, of different sizes, whose body-substances presented a 

 similar appearance to that of the monads and of which they were 

 in all probability earlier developmental forms." a 



Now, by careful comparison, I find that this monad is no other 



Vide Times, January 29, 1876. 2 "Evolution," p. 178. 



