





oposition he chiefly relies on his old experiments, 
as we have seen, failed to satisfy his scientific com- 
at the time they were made, and also on some new 
( vations which he callsconclusive, but which will hardly 
be regarded in that light by others. He faces the question 
which must arise in the mind of every man considering 
this matter, “ What becomes of all the work of all the 
bacteriologzists if Dr Bastian’s view is correct ?”’ and he 
faces it, one must confess, with very little success. 
It would appear almost incredible that bacteriologists 
should have been constantly labouring for so many years 
at this very subject, should have made so many millions of 
pure cultures, and yet that none of them should have 
stumbled upon a single atom of evidence supporting the 
views that Dr Bastian puts forward. Moreover, it is not 
merely the bacteriologist who is involved but every person 
| who cans meat or puts up organic substances in air-tight 
_ receptacles. It is quite impossible within the limits of this 
note to enter into any criticism of the experiments de- 
tailed in the book. But this may be said—Dr Bastian com- 
| plains (p. 312) that the repeated heating of their media, 
and often at high temperatures, by bacteriologists not only 
kills all pre-existent micro-organisms, but also destroys 
“any- potential germinality of the media themselves.” 
The whole kernel of the question seems to lie in this mat- 
ter. If the heating is high enough and frequent enough, it 
does not deprive the medium heated of the power of sus- 
taining bacterial life, but admittedly no bacterial life 
| Originates therein de novo. Readers will no doubt wait to 
| consider the bearing of Dr Bastian’s views upon current 
| philosophy until he has succeeded in converting some few 
| of his scientific brethren, who cannot be suspected to have 
any reasons other than scientific for aifering from him, to 
a belief in his views. 

pr Saree Og ae cua : 
ee ee B.C. A.W, 
