353 



sight to be all-convincing," but as soon as the first impi-essions 

 are got over, he is on the contrary amazed at his " utter one- 

 sidedness." Looking at the origination of life as a purely phy- 

 sical phenomenon, he compares it to evolution, and remark- 

 ing that the " restrictive influence " of atmospheric pressure 

 at the temperature at which ether boils for example is suffi- 

 cient to prevent boiling in alcohol or water ; he conceives that 

 the " evolutional capacity " of liquids is something similar, and 

 may be possible under restrictive conditions in one case when 

 it is- entii'ely destroyed in others. These restrictive conditions 

 appear to be according to Dr. Bastian pressure, acid reaction, 

 and the influence of a high temperature. He considers, 

 therefore, that it is a quite reasonable supposition to attribute 

 the nonappearance of life in some of Pasteur's experiments, 

 not to the absence of germs in a liquid in which those 

 possibly previously contained had been destroyed by boiling, 

 but to the effect of restrictive conditions. It is to be regretted 

 that Dr. Bastian did not repeat some of Pasteur's experi- 

 ments with the 'eau de levure sucree,'^ as it would be 

 important to have seen whether they would in his hands 

 have yielded negative results. If so, an explanation of the 

 discrepancy could not have been sought in " restrictive con- 

 ditions," but must have been looked for in some unseen 

 source of error. As to the presence of air, it must be 

 remarked, that in the experiments of Dr. Child, and in those 

 of other observers quoted in Dr. Bastian's paper, this 

 certainly did not prevent the appearance of life accompanied 

 as it no doubt generally is with considerable gaseous 

 tension arising from putrefactive changes.^ It is very pro- 

 bable, as Dr. Bastian suggests, that high temperatures might 

 have a more destructive effect on organic matter if contained 

 in acid solutions, but this could only approximate them to 

 those solutions of purely inorganic matter, the evolutional 

 capacity of which seems to have been so high. But an argu- 

 ment is supplied by Dr. Bastian himself which seems suffi- 

 ^ The composition of this liquid was, water 100, sugar 10, albuminous 

 and mineral matter derived from the yeast of beer 0'2 to 07 parts. It was 

 at first slightly acid, becoming more so from gradual oxidation during the 

 experiments. 



" Dr. Child found that in the presence of carbon dioxide, hydrogen, 

 nitrogen, and possibly of oxygen, no organisms were produced in fluids in 

 sealed flasks, although they were when heated air was introduced. The 

 ' restrictive influence' of pressure in each case would be the same, and it is 

 difficult to see what other repressive influence the gases themselves could 

 have had if life can be produced in vacuo. If the gases were not thoroughly 

 washed the case would of course be difi'erent, as chemical substances, 

 inimical to life might have found their way into the solution with them. 

 (See ' Proceedings of the Royal Society,' vols, xiii, pp. 313 — 314 ; xiv, 

 pp. 178—186.) 



