68 PROF. LIONEL S. BEALE, F.R.C.P., F.R.S.. ON VITALITY. 
after year many seeds, from which generation after generation of 
new apple trees may grow. 
Professor HE. Hutt.—This being a purely biological question, I 
am unwilling to take part init beyond making a few remarks. I 
apprehend that Dr. Beale holds and maintains that you cannot. 
have life except from life. 
Professor Lionet Breate.—Certainly. 
Professor EK. Hutu.—I may remind you that some years ago, 
when this very question was being much agitated among men of 
science, attempts were made to prove, or to disprove, this great 
principle. It was attempted to show, or the reverse, that the 
amoeba, or some form of microscopic structure, could be generated 
without contact with the air—which we know is full of organic 
vital forms—and it was asserted on one side that if in a certain 
preparation, such as a gelatinous preparation, organic living forms 
occurred, it was in consequence of contact with the air. The 
greatest care was taken to ascertain this point, and I think it was 
Professor Tyndall who carried out some experiments, and he came 
to the conclusion, which he announced, and I think Professor 
Huxley endorsed it absolutely, that it is quite impossible to pro- 
duce life without the presence of some organisms already living. 
I think that is a point in which the lecturer thoroughly concurs. 
Professor Lionen Beate.— Yes, that is assented to—that there is 
no such thing as spontaneous generation. That is settled for 
ever. 
Professor EH. Hutt.—If this were a geological subject I should 
go on a little farther ; but I do not wish to trespass. 
Professor Lionst Beate.—That I think would much interest us. 
Professor E. Hutit.—I would refer to the fact that this world, 
as all geologists and physicists admit, exists as a mass which was 
once in a molten condition at a temperature in which life could not 
possibly have existed. There must have been a period at which 
life originated on the surface. Where did life come from? That 
is a question which Lord Kelvin endeavoured to answer at a 
meeting of the British Association in Glasgow, and we all know 
what the answer was. 
Dr. ScHorieLp.—I hope Professor Beale will pardon me, but I 
do not gather that he means that the nucleus and segmentation of 
sperm and so on is post-mortem. 
Professor LioneL Breate.—No ; but there are various appearances 
