214 Merkel Henry Jacobs 



of revival, and that, since life processes are impossible in the 

 absence of water, in the dried animal v^e are dealing v^ith a case 

 of life in potentia as opposed to life in actu. These contentions 

 v^ere supported by observations made several years later by the 

 physicist Gavarret, v^ho subjected rotifers to the action of a vacu- 

 um of only 4 mm. pressure for 51 days, sulphuric acid being 

 present to absorb all traces of free moisture, and yet was able 

 to revive them by the apphcation of water. 



About the same time Pouchet, followed by Pennetier and Tinel, 

 obtained results which were diametrically opposed to those of 

 Doyere. Numerous carefully conducted experiments led these 

 naturalists to believe that a true desiccation is invariably fatal in 

 the case of rotifers, tardigrades, and anguillulids just as in other 

 animals. They found in all of their experiments that these ani- 

 mals when dried on a glass sHde either with or without a small 

 quantity of sand are killed in the course of a few days even at ordi- 

 nary temperatures and that individuals dried under more natural 

 conditions cannot resist an hour's exposure to a temperature of 

 100° C. Pouchet even found that rotifers and tardigrades obtained 

 in a dried condition from natural sources were all killed in three 

 months when exposed to the air in a sunny place. All of these 

 results were presumably due to the loss of water by the animals 

 when exposed to unfavorable conditions. 



Since the views of Pouchet, Pennetier, and Tinel on the one 

 hand and Doyere and Gavarret on the other, differed so widely 

 and since both seemed to be based on equally careful experiments, 

 it was decided, instead of wasting time in fruitless discussion, to 

 submit the matter to arbitration. Accordingly a commission was 

 appointed in 1859 by the Societe de Biologie consisting of MM. 

 Balbiani, Berthelot, Brown-Sequard, Dareste, Guillemin, Ch. 

 Robin, and Broca, chairman, to hear the evidence presented by 

 both sides, to perform any experiments of their own they might 

 consider necessary, and to present the result of their deliberations 

 in the form of a report to the society. This commission dis- 

 charged its duty with the greatest thoroughness. It held forty- 

 two regular sessions without counting the times when a few of 

 its members met for discussion. The examination of the evidence 



