THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



to be generally admitted and, indeed, when speaking 

 of the position of the germ theory anterior to the 

 labours of M. Pasteur, one of its warmest adherents, 

 M. Milne-Edwards, says l : c Jusqu'alors 1'existence de 

 propagules ou de germes d'Infusoires dans Fatmosphere 

 e'tait une hypothese plausible pour expliquer 1'origine 

 de ces etres d'une maniere conforme aux lois generates 

 de la reproduction ; mais c'etait une supposition seule- 

 ment, et 1'on n'avait pu ni voir ni saisir ces corpuscles 

 reproducteurs.' 



M. Pasteur was, however, not the first who had en- 

 deavoured to obtain experimental evidence as to the 

 truth of the panspermic hypothesis. As M. Pouchet 

 points out, he had been preceded by M. Baudrimont 

 and by M. Gigot, if not by others. The former shook 

 up large quantities of air with small quantities of 

 water, and afterwards submitted the water to micro- 

 scopical examination without finding any recognizable 

 eggs or spores 2 . M. Gigot 3 , on the other hand, made 

 use of an aspirator in order to draw the air of marshy 

 districts through dilute sulphuric acid, and by this means 

 he filtered out a certain amount of organic debris. 



M. Pasteur has, however, endeavoured most assidu- 

 ously to take the c panspermic 3 doctrine out of the re- 



1 Anat. et Physiol. Comp.' t. viii. p. 264. 



2 See ' Observations des Stres Microscopiques de 1'Atmosphere Ter- 

 restre,' Compt. Rend. 1855, t. xli. p. 542. His observations did not accord, 

 therefore, with the recent marvellous statements of Mr. Dancer. 



3 'Recherches Experimentales sur la Nature des Emanations Mare- 

 cageuses.' Paris, 1859. 



