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THE EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE IN REFERENCE 
TO PASTEUR’S CONCLUSIONS 
CHAPTER XII 
WAS PASTEUR RIGHT IN SAYING THAT GUARDED ACID 
FLUIDS PREVIOUSLY HEATED TO I00 C. (212° F.) 
REMAIN BARREN? 
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I HAVE already, in Chapter v., pointed out the 
enormous influence which Pasteur’s memoir, 
published in 1862, has had in building up an 
exclusive belief in the germ-theory, and in 
casting doubt upon the present de novo origin of 
living matter. In one of the concluding pages of 
this chapter I have also set forth the fundamental 
inductions and corollaries upon which Pasteur’s 
doctrines were based ; and I propose now to examine 
these in detail, since they were strictly adhered to by 
him up to the date of his latest. writings on the 
subject in 1877, when he still showed himself very 
intolerant of any one doubting their truth. 
He laid down the rule that fluids having an acid 
reaction would, after they had been boiled for a few 
minutes, and then efficiently guarded from contamina- 
tion by particles contained in the atmosphere, remain 
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