XXVI INTRODUCTION 



One by one the statements and experiments of Pouchet 

 were explained or overthrown, and the doctrine of 

 spontaneous generation remained discredited until it 

 was revived with ardour, ability, and, for a time, with 

 success, by Dr. Bastian. 



A remark of M. Eadot's on page 103 needs some 

 qualification. ' The great interest of Pasteur's method 

 consists,' he says, ' in its proving unanswerably that 

 the origin of life in infusions which have been heated 

 to the boiling point is solely due to the solid particles 

 suspended in the air.' This means that living germs 

 cannot exist in the liquid when once raised to a tem- 

 perature of 212 Fahr. No doubt a great number of 

 organisms collapse at this temperature ; some indeed, 

 as M. Pasteur has shown, are destroyed at a tempera- 

 ture 90 below the boiling point. But this is by no 

 means universally the case. The spores of the hay- 

 bacillus, for example, have, in numerous instances, suc- 

 cessfully resisted the boiling temperature for one, two, 

 three, four hours ; while in one instance eight hours' 

 continuous boiling failed to sterilise an infusion of 

 desiccated hay. The knowledge of this fact caused 

 me a little anxiety some years ago when a meeting was 

 projected between M. Pasteur and Dr. Bastian. For 

 though, in regard to the main question, I knew that 

 the upholder of spontaneous generation could not win, 

 on the particular issue touching the death temperature 

 he might have come off victor. 



