Royal Society. 383 



the remains of several largo yellow frogs — and adds, " Still more 

 difficult to credit, eels are often found among the food-store. How 

 he catches them I have some curiosity to know. Yarrell says eels 

 slide like serpents over the dewy grass from one drain to another. 

 If so, the difficulty ends ; for the foumart's instinct would soon teach 

 it to watch for the land progress of its slimy prey." 



In dear old Bewick, the delight of our youth, the woodcut of the 

 foumart represents the animal with an eel in its mouth, the accuracy 

 of the illustration being founded on the fact that several fine eels 

 were discovered in its reti'eat, and that it had been tracked in the 

 snow to the banks of a rivulet. Now we have never met with any 

 one who could assert that they had ever seen a foumart in the water, 

 and the matter has always been a puzzle to us ; but we have to thank 

 Mr. Colquhoun for dispelling the mystery. 



We regret that the limited space at our disposal forbids us to 

 indulge in further quotations. Suffice it to say that the badger 

 (Meles ta.vKs), the otter (Lutra vulgaris), and even the rat, all come 

 in for their share of notice, their habits being graphically described 

 and illustrated by characteristic anecdotes. We cordially recommend 

 this interesting essay to the general reader as well as to the natura- 

 list and sportsman. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 



Jan. 30, 1873. — George Busk, Esq., Vice-President, in the Chair. 



"Note on the Origin of Bacteria, and on their Relation to the 

 Process of Putrefaction." By H. Chaelton Bastian, M.D., F.R.S. 



In his now celebrated memoir of 1862, M. Pasteur asserted and 

 claimed to have proved (1) that the putrefaction occurring in 

 certain previously boiled fluids after exposure to the air was due 

 to the contamination of the fluids by Bacteria, or their germs, 

 which had before existed in the atmosphere, and (2) that all the 

 organisms found in such fluids have been derived more or less 

 immediately from the reproduction of germs which formerly existed 

 in the atmosphere. 



The results of a long series of experiments have convinced me 

 that both these views are untenable. 



In the first place, it can be easily sho\\n that living Bacteria, or 

 their germs, exist very sparingly in the atmosphere, and that solu- 

 tions capable of putrefying are not commonly infected from this 

 source. 



It has now been very definitely ascertained that certain fluids 

 exist which, after thoy have been boiled, are incapable of giving 

 birth to Bacteria, although they continue to be quite suitable for 



