.328 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



with a drop 1 of very turbid fluid, containing hundreds 

 of living Bacteria, Vtbriones^ and Torul<e. A drying appa- 

 ratus was fixed to an air-pump, and the flask containing 

 the inoculated fluid was securely connected with the 

 former by means of a piece of tight india-rubber tubing 2 , 

 after its neck had been drawn out and narrowed, at 

 about two inches from the extremity. The flask con- 

 taining the inoculated fluid was then allowed to dip 

 into a beaker holding water at I22F, in which a 

 thermometer was immersed. The temperature of the 

 fluid was maintained at this point for fifteen minutes 3 , 

 by means of a spirit-lamp beneath the beaker. The 

 air was then exhausted from the flask by means of the 

 pump, till the fluid began to boil ; ebullition was allowed 

 to continue for a minute or two, so as to expel as much 

 air as possible from the flask, and then, during its con- 

 tinuance, the narrowed neck of the flask was hermeti- 

 cally sealed by means of a spirit-lamp flame and a 

 blow-pipe. Other flasks were similarly prepared, except 

 that they were exposed to successively higher degrees 

 of heat the fluid being boiled off, in different cases, 

 at temperatures of 131, 140, 149, 158, and i67F. 

 All the flasks being similarly inoculated with living 



1 The proportion was one drop of the fluid, opaque with organisms, 

 to an ounce of the clear solution. 



2 Into which a piece of glass tube had been slipped to prevent 

 collapse. 



3 Allowing even five minutes for the temperature of the i oz. of fluid 

 to become equal to that of the bath, it would have remained exposed 

 to this amount of heat for about ten minutes. 



