THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



conclusions have been independently confirmed by the 

 results of the recent experiments of Dr. Burdon Sander- 

 son ^ Speaking of ' Pasteur's solution/ with which 

 he had been working, he says : — ^ No amount of ex- 

 posure has any effect in determining the evolution of 

 microzymes. This conclusion, although it is in com- 

 plete accordance with what we have already learned as 

 to their relations, both in the visible and invisible 

 state, to moisture, is of such importance that it seemed 

 necessary to establish it by special experiments.' The 

 following is the most striking of the experiments which 

 were made with this object in view. ^January 7. — The 

 bent glass tube for the absorption of carbonic acid by 

 potash, known as Liebig's bulbs, was heated to 200°C 

 and filled with boiling test solution. It was then 

 attached, by a vulcanite connector which had been 

 previously boiled, to an aspirator. During the follow- 

 ing week air was drawn through it for a few hours 

 daily. On the 23rd there were numerous ToruU cells 

 with submerged tufts of mycelium in the liquid, espe- 

 cially in those bulbs to which the air had access first, 

 but no trace of microzymes. The result shows in the 

 most striking manner not only that air is entirely free 

 from living microzymes^ but that the activity of the 

 development of penici Ilium is in proportion to the 

 degree of exposure.' 



M. Pasteur, Prof. Lister, Prof. Huxley, and others. 



* Loc. cit., p. 59. 



