1865.] Organisms in Closed Vessels. 183 



sion over 140 Fahr., and have reason to believe that I did not see it 

 at its highest. Moreover, the bulbs here were almost wholly deprived of 

 light. Thus, before opening the vessels, I had made up my mind that the 

 results of the other half of the series were most to be depended upon. The 

 temperature of the room in which they were probably never fell below 40 

 Fahr., and was generally between 50 and 60. 



The examination of the B division of this series took place at Dr. Scale's 

 house, Feb. 7, 1865. The results were as follows : IV. 



Exp. IV. Hay + water + heated air. A few bacteriums were & J 

 found in active motion (see drawing by Dr. Beale). * 



^W II. 

 Exp. II. Hay + water + heated air. Very * , ^ 



large numbers of similar organisms ** e as 

 were found. sir 



h VI 



Exp. VI. Flour + water -(-heated air. Few were found as com- 

 pared with the last, but still several in active motion. 

 Exp. XII. Flour + water + oxygen. No organisms found. 

 Exp. VIII. Flour + water + heated air (unfiltered). A good many bac- 

 teriums, similar to the others. 



Exp. X. Flour + water + oxygen (unfiltered). Some bacteriums, but not 

 moving. 



The other set of experiments was examined by me at Oxford on various 

 evenings between Feb. 16 and March 8 ; but during some part of that time 

 I possessed no object-glass of sufficient magnifying power to avoid all un- 

 certainty in the results. 



In both of them, viz. Nos. V. and XI., I could find nothing like bacte- 

 riums. In the three others, viz. III., VII. and IX., there were what appeared 

 to me dead ones (but a dead bacterium is an object of which few persons 

 who have seen many would think it very safe to be very positive), and in 

 one only, viz. No. I., an infusion of hay, were they numerous and moving. 

 This I mention particularly, because the objects were very well seen, and 

 moving actively in the first slide which I examined, and could be the 

 better seen on account of the clearness of the fluid and the absence of 

 granular matter ; but upon examining several portions after the vessel had 

 been open for a few minutes, though they continued to be seen in equally 

 large numbers, all movement had ceased. They were examined with a 

 -gL object-glass of Messrs. Powell and Lealand. Now, if we omit from 

 these two series of experiments those which I have already shown reason to 

 distrust, we have, in all, seven in the first, and six in the second series, 

 which seem fairly to test the question ; and these having been examined by 

 Dr. Beale, as well as myself, bacteriums were found and seen by both of us 

 in three out of the first seven, and five out of the remaining six in all, in 

 eiirht. 



