266 Appendix. 



tains, descended into the crater of Vesuvius and of Etna; he 

 has penetrated even into the tombs of the Pharaohs and studied 

 their crania blackened and dusty with the lapse of time."* It 

 seems too bad after all this that he should not have been re- 

 warded by occasionally finding germs, but his results were bar- 

 ren. Then he prepared a series of flasks with putrescible infus- 

 ions as Pasteur had done and with the same end in view, of 

 gathering air from different localities and learning whether sub- 

 sequently organisms would develope in them. Now, holding as 

 he did to the theory of spontaneous generation, he said, as the 

 chemical constitution of the air is the same everywhere, we ought 

 always to find such organisms wherever air, no matter from what 

 part of the globe it may be taken, is brought into contact with 

 putrescible solutions. And sure enough his flasks were found 

 always to contain them. 



Here then was a flat contradiction in the results obtained in 

 each series of experiments by these two eminent observers. Each 

 showed, at least to his own satisfaction, the fallacies in the ex- 

 periments of the other, but the possibility of reconciliation 

 seemed almost hopeless. It was therefore proposed to submit the 

 case to a jury of experts lo be selected by the Academy. The 

 contestants availed themselves of this proposal, and a commis- 

 sion consisting of Flourens, Dumas, Brongiart, Milne Edwards 

 and Balard was appointed in January, but did not begin its 

 labors until June, 1S64. Each contestant stated his propositions 

 in definite and unmistakeable terms, and M. Joly, in his confi- 

 dence, even went to the extent of saying, "If a single one of 

 our flasks remains unchanged, we will acknowledge defeat." Pas- 

 teur appeared with sixty flasks and made his experiments, 

 Pouchet and his confreres then declared that they were unwilling 

 to abide by a decision on this series of experiments, and as the 

 commission persisted in holding both sides to this series which 



* Lrf< Generations. •ipontanei'.i : Par .Jules Jamin, Het'ne des deux Mouden, Vol 

 LIV., p. 4;?1. Though .somewhat argumentative, this article is a good resume 

 of the controversy before the French Academy, and the results on both sides 

 are clearly set forth. A translation of the article was published in the 

 Methodist Quarterly Review of Oct., ISiio. 



