
CONCLUDING EXAMINATION 193 
“survival of germs” will be again the verdict, in 
spite of previous statements to the contrary, and 
independently of all direct evidence. Is fertility 
attained again, after another alleged death-point has 
been passed? Do fluids which have been heated 
to 248° F. ferment? First the facts are denied ; 
and when these are established, again comes the 
revocation, without any independent warrant, of 
previous beliefs, and the old cry “ survival of germs.” 
To those who are wholly inspired by the convic- 
tion that a de xovo origin of living matter is 
impossible, the following statements of experimental 
results will doubtless carry with them no significance, 
other than that above indicated. Still, for the sake 
of those who are not so imbued, it will be worth 
while to cite them. The tubes employed in these 
experiments were all thoroughly faméeés, during their 
preparation, and were used shortly afterwards. 
Urine, almost neutralised with liquor potassz, 
which has been heated to 212° F. for one to three 
hours in closed airless flasks, will not unfrequently 
ferment in two or three days, when kept at a 
temperature of 122° F. A very liftle more or less 
of alkali, however, will, with some urines, suffice to 
prevent the occurrence of this change. 
In sealed flasks, half-full of neutralised urine and 
half-full of ordinary air, which have been heated in a 
calcium-chloride bath to 230° F. (110° C.) for 5’ to 30’ 
fermentation takes place much more rarely. Still I 
have seen it occur fourteen times out of fifty trials— 
showing itself in the course of one to three days. 
N 
