120 PASTEURj OX SPOXTANKOUS GENERATION. 



Lussac's results^ or rutlier in tlie interpretation of tliem tlmt 

 lias been given^ and which has been not only accepted, but 

 exaggerated ? 



The following- experiments answer all these questions. 



In a series of flasks containing ^50 cubic centimetres, the 

 author introduces the same putrescible liquid '^ in quantity 

 suflicicnt to occupy about a third of the total volume of the 

 vessel. The necks of the flasks are drawn out in the spirit- 

 lamp, and the liquid is made to boil, the slender extremity of 

 the neck being closed during the ebullition. A vacuum is 

 thus produced in the flask. He then breaks off the points in 

 a given locality. The air enters with violence, drawing along 

 •with it all the dusty particles it may liold in suspension, and 

 all the principles, known or unknown, associated with it. The 

 flask is then immediately closed Avith the blowpipe and placed 

 in a stove heated to 20° or 30° C, that is to say, in the best 

 conditions for the development of animalcules and mucores. 



The results of the following experiments are not in accord 

 ■with the principles generally admitted, but they are perfectly 

 in agreement, on the other hand, with the idea of a dissemina- 

 tion of germs. 



In most cases, in a few days the liquid begins to decompose; 

 and in the flasks, although they may be placed in identical 

 conditions, organisms of the most varied kinds will be seen to 

 arise — far more varied, in fact, especially as regards the Muce- 

 dinece or Torulacece ,i\\^n Avoiild have been produced if theliquids 

 had been exposed to the common air. But, on the other hand, 

 it often happens several times in each series of experiments 

 that the liquid remains absolute^ unaflected, whatever may 

 be the duration of its exposure in the stove, and just as if it 

 had been filled with air that had been exposed to a red 

 heat. 



This sort of experiment appears to the author as simple as 

 it is unobjectionable, in order to demonstrate that the atmo- 

 sphere is far from constantly aftbrding the cause of the so- 

 termed spontaneous generations, and that it is always possible 

 to procure in a given locality, and at a given moment, a con- 

 siderable volume of common air which has undergone no sort 

 of physical or chemical change, and which is nevertheless 

 whollv incapable of giving rise to Infusona or Mucedinea in 

 a liquid which undergoes decomposition very rapidly, and in- 

 variable when in free contact with the atmosphere. The 

 partial success of these experiments shows sufficiently well 

 also that, owdng to the movement of the atmosphere, there will 



* Albuminous water from tlie yeast of beer; albuminous water contain- 

 ing sugar, urine, &c. 



