Royal Society. 63 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 



May 11, 1871. — General Sir Edward Sabine, K.C.B., President, 

 in the Chair. 



" On Protoplasmic Life." By F. Crace-Calvert, F.R.S. 



A year since, the publication of Dr. Tyndall's interesting paper 

 on the abundance of germ-life in the atmosphere, and the difficulty 

 of destroying this life, as well as other papers published by eminent 

 men of science, suggested the inquiry if the germs existing or pro- 

 duced in a liquid in a state of fermentation or of putrefaction could 

 be conveyed to a liquid susceptible of entering into these states ; and 

 although at the present time the results of this inquiry are not suffi- 

 ciently complete for publication, still I have observed some facts 

 arising out of the subject of protoplasmic life which I wish now to 

 lay before the Royal Society. 



Although prepared, by the perusal of the papers of many workers 

 in this field, to experience difficulties in prosecuting the study, I must 

 confess I did not calculate on encountering so many as I met, and 

 especially those arising from the rapid development of germ-life, 

 of which I have hitherto seen no notice in any papers which have 

 come under my observation. Thus, if the white of a new-laid 

 egg be mixed with water (free from life), and exposed to the atmo- 

 sphere for only fifteen minutes, in the months of August or September, 

 it will show life in abundance. From this cause I was misled in many 

 of my earlier experiments, not having been sufficiently careful to avoid 

 even momentary exposure of the fluids to the atmosphere. To the 

 want of the knowledge of this fact may be traced the erroneous con- 

 clusions arrived at by several gentlemen who had devoted their 

 attention to the subject of spontaneous generation. 



I believe that I have overcome the difficulty of the fluids under 

 examination becoming polluted by impregnation by the protoplasmic 

 life existing in the atmosphere, by adopting the following simple 

 method of working. 



As a pure fluid free from life, and having no chemical reaction, 

 was essential to carrying out the investigation, I directed my atten- 

 tion to the preparation of pure distilled water. Having always found 

 life in distilled water prepared by the ordinary methods by keeping 

 it a few days, after many trials I employed the following apparatus, 

 which gave very satisfactory results, as it enabled me to obtain water 

 which remained free from life for several months. 



It consists of two flasks, A and B (A rather larger than B), fitted 

 with perforated caoutchouc stoppers*. These flasks are connected 

 by the tube D. Into the stopper of A is fitted a tube C, to which is 

 joined a piece of caoutchouc tubing, which may be closed by the 



* The stoppers and caoutchouc tubing used for the various joints must be 

 new, and must be well boiled in water before use. 



