180 ■ A Few Exi^eriments 



I examined also the bottles containing the iodide of mercury, but 

 found no traces of organisms. 



Feb. 11th. — Examined the solutions again. There is no decided 

 leptothrix formed in any of them. In the distilled water I found a 

 few spores, all round — one composed of three attached in a line. 



In the liquid containing iodide of mercury I found some oval 

 angulated bodies, the nature of which I could not decide. They were 

 soon obscured by the crystals of tartar emetic forming by evapora- 

 tion. 



Feh. l&ih. — Found a large plant of leptothrix at bottom of bottle 

 containing antim. tart, in distilled water. 



No leptothrix or spores in the bottles with iodide of mercury. 



Oct. 6/^, 1870.— Put some tartar emetic into a bottle with spring 

 water, and a second with distilled water, half air. In both cases 

 leptothrix filaments were soon formed. 



In a bottle of precipitated bichloride, with iodide of potassium, 

 some tartar emetic was dissolved, half the bottle was filled with air, 

 and lightly corked. In this case, on Feb. 5th, 1871, no change has 

 occurred. 



Two drachms of citric acid were dissolved in 6 oz. of water, to 

 which was added about a drachm of Condy's fluid. The colour soon 

 disappeared, and in course of time (10 days or so) leptothrix 

 appeared. 



Oct. 11th. — Placed the liver of a rat (fresh, and washed in distilled 

 water) in a 2-oz. bottle of distilled water ; inserted a cork, and covered 

 the whole with cotton-wool. I then placed it in a dark cupboard. In 

 seven hours the water below it was red with blood globules. 



Oct. I^ih. — Eemoved the cotton-wool, and found a proligerous 

 pellicle, consisting entirely of small paramoecia, or monads, in an 

 elongated condition. 



Oct. 29<A. — Examined the proligerous pellicle, and found a few 

 paramcEcia, but the mass consists of millions of moving pin-point 

 monads. 



These experiments point to certain questions of interest relating 

 to spontaneous evolution from inorganic matter. 



The first, in which air washed with disinfectants of various kinds 

 was introduced to bottles containing a solution of tartar emetic. In 

 none of them was the growth of Mucedinse prevented, though in all 

 it was longer in making its appearance than in unwashed air. (If 

 this were the fitting place I could show how this is borne out by 

 my experience in the sick room with regard to the use of disin- 

 fectants.) 



A second point to be noticed is the formation of the green 

 mucedo in the bottle to which sulphur vapour had been introduced, 

 which seems to me to have an important bearing on the question 

 of Xenogenesis. In all the cases, I conclude the germs must have 

 been in the liquid, but not in the air above. 



In the second experiment with bichloride of mercury, if germs 



