74 ORIGINATION OF LIVING BEINGS. 



dead, but in reality it has a sort of dim life about it, 

 which, if it is placed under fair conditions, will cause 

 it to break up into the forms of these little animalcules, 

 and they will go through their lives in the same way as 

 the animal or plant of which they once formed a part. 



The question now became very hotly debated. Spal- 

 lanzani, an Italian naturalist, took up opposite views to 

 those of Needham and Buffon, and by means of certain 

 experiments he showed that it was quite possible to stop 

 the process by boiling the water, and closing the vessel 

 in which it was contained. "Oh!" said his oppo- 

 nents; "but what do you know you may be doing 

 when you heat the air over the water in this way ? 

 You may be destroying some property of the air 

 requisite for the spontaneous generation of the animal- 

 cules." 



However, Spallanzani's views were supposed to be 

 upon the right side, and those of the others fell into 

 discredit ; although the fact was that Spallanzani had 

 not made good his views. Well, then, the subject con- 

 tinued to be revived from time to time, and experi- 

 ments were made by several persons ; but these experi- 

 ments were not altogether satisfactory. It was found 

 that if you put an infusion in which animalcules would 

 appear if it were exposed to the air into a vessel and 

 boiled it, and then sealed up the mouth of the vessel, 

 so that no air, save such as had been heated to 212°, 

 could reach its contents, that then no animalcules would 

 be found ; but if you took the same vessel and exposed 

 the infusion to the air, then you would get animalcules. 

 Furthermore, it was found that if you connected the 



