SPONTANEOUS GENERATION. 



297 



- danger not lessened by the theoretic bias with which 

 he approached it. This is revealed by the opening 

 words of his preface : ' Lorsque, par la meditation, il 

 fut evident pour moi que la generation spontanee etait 

 encore Tun des moyens qu'emploie la nature pour la re- 

 production des etres, je m'appliquai a decouvrir par 

 quels precedes on pouvait parvenir a en mettre les 

 phenomenes en evidence.' It is needless to say that 

 such a preposseshion required a strong curb. Pouchet 

 repeated the experiments of Schulze and Schwann with 

 results diametrically opposed to theirs. He heaped ex- 

 periment upon experiment and argument upon argu- 

 ment, spicing with the sarcasm of the advocate the 

 logic of the man of science. In view of the multitudes 

 required to produce the observed results, he ridiculed 

 the assumption of atmospheric germs. This was one 

 of his strongest points. ' Si les Proto-organismes que 

 nous voyons pulluler partout et dans tout, avaient leurs 

 germes dissemines dans 1'atmosphere, dans la propor- 

 tion mathematiquement indispensable a cet effet, Tair 

 en serait totalement obscurci, car ils devraient s'y 

 trouver beaucoup plus serres que les globules d'eau qui 

 fo^ment nos nuages epais. II n'y a pas la la moindre 

 exageration.' Kecurring to the subject, he exclaims : 

 * L'air dans le \uel nous vivons aurait presque la den- 

 site du fer.' There is often a virulent contagion in a 

 confident tone, and this hardihood of argumentative 

 assertion was sure to influence minds swayed not by 

 knowledge, but by authority. Had Pouchet known 

 that 'the blue ethereal sky' is formed of suspended 

 particles, through which the sun freely shines, he would 

 hardly have ventured upon this line of argument. 



Pouchet's pursuit of this enquiry strengthened the 

 conviction with which he began it, and landed him in 

 downright credulity in the end. I do not question 



