xlvi THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



shapes and sizes; also in the midst of the granule heaps 

 many large, rounded or ovoidal, densely granular nucleated 

 bodies, whose average size was xg'o-o" in diameter, though 

 there were many of them much larger, and others even less 

 than half this size. Intertwined amongst the granular matter 

 also were a large number of algoid-looking filaments, 2^o¥o o" 

 in diameter, containing segmented protoplasmic contents. 

 There were also in the fluid itself a number of medium-sized, 

 unsegmented Bacteria, whose movements were somewhat 

 languid ^. 



Sixth Set of Experiments (XLVIII — LXVI). 



Anmioniacal Solutions, luiboiled, and exposed to Ordinary Air 

 in a Corked Bottle I (Temp. 6o°-65^ F.) 



No. XLVIII. Ammonic Acetate Solution. — On the 



tenth day the fluid was still quite clear, and free from 

 sediment. 



^ The results of this experiment and of No. LXIII. are decidedly 

 opposed to the reality of the germ-killing powers with which carbolic 

 acid has been endowed by Professor Lister and others. I, however, had 

 previously found that specimens of Torulce and Bacteria, obtained from 

 freshly-opened flasks and then mounted as microscopical specimens in a 

 mixture of glycerine and carbolic acid (in the proportion of 15 : i), not 

 unfrequently grew and multiplied under such conditions. MM. Bcchamp 

 and Estor also found that Bacteria mulliplied in carbolized fluids, and 

 similar facts have been testified to by some Italian observers. But 

 organic fluids differ much from one another, so that the influence of 

 carbohc might well be different upon different fluids. And, accordingly, 

 we find that whilst its addition to, and subsequent boihng with, a hay in- 

 fusion increases the fermentability of the latter, precisely the opposite 

 effects are produced when the hay is replaced by a turnip infusion. ^See 

 No. XLV.) Without wishing to undervalue in the least the system of 

 treatment introduced, and so admirably carried out by Professor Lister, 

 I am strongly inclined to think that he explains his results by theories 

 which are almost wholly incorrect. 



2 All the simple ammoniacal solutions were in the proportion of ten 

 grains of the salt to the fluid ounce of distilled water ; and to those 

 which also contained sodic phosphate, three grains of this were added. 

 About half an ounce of each solution was put into a one-ounce wide- 

 mouthed bottle, and then tightly corked. 



