434 
But the most powerful arguments in favour of spontaneous 
generation are furnished by the ~tudy of the monads, the simplest 
of ail organisms, which Haeckel has made the subject of a special 
monograph. Seven species of these are knowa, some of which 
live in fresh water, and some in the sea, all or them consisting 
of small formless masses of albuminous combinations of carbon, 
and differing from each other only in their mode of reprocuction, 
development, and nutrition. As these living beings do not pre- 
sent any complication of diverse parts, any division of functions 
or of organs, as all the phenomena of life with them proceed 
in a homogeneous manner, and without determinate form, it is 
very easy to conceive of their spoataneous generation. There. 
is indeed one species which even at the present day appears to 
be bon spontaneously, it is that which has been discovered by 
Huxley, and which has been described uader the name of Bathy- 
bius Havckelii. Ut inhabits the sea at depths of from 12,090 to 
24,000 feet ; it covers the ground sometimes as a network of 
strings of Z/asma, and sometimes in little heaps. The nucleus 
of it seems to be formed by a local condensation of albuminous 
matter, and the monad becomes a cell, As we have seen above 
that all animals and plants have their starting-point in a cell, it 
is allowable to suppose that all species are only monads gradually 
modified by natural selection. 
It will be seen that all the views of Haeckel are founded upon 
the cellular theory as it has been formulated by Schleiden and 
Schwann. Haeckel always distinguishes two elements— 
cytodes and cells properly so called, reuniting these two 
elements under the generic name of J/astides. Cytodes are 
parcels of plasma destitute of a nucleus, while cells are plas- 
tides endowed with a nucleus; each of these two species 
being subdivided in its turn into two groups, according as they 
are or are not enveloped by an exterior membrane. Hence 
there are four forms of /lastides; (1) Naked or primitive 
cytodes, like the present existing monads, the only ones which 
can proceed directly from spuntaneous generation ; (2) Cytodes 
with membranes (/éfocyfoda), proceeding from naked cytodes by 
a coagulation of the exterior portion of the plasma ; (3) Naked 
or primitive cellules by coagulation of an interior portion of the 
plasma ; and (4), Membranous cells, proceeding either from 
membranous c\todes by interior condensation of the nucleus, or 
from naked cells by the external formation of a membrane, 
There are two theories, one of which miay be adopted. Either 
the monads at present known are descended by propagation 
from primitive monads and have preserved the same form for 
millions of years ; or, even at this present time, as was the case 
in the earlier days of organisation, they owe their existence to 
repeated acts of spontancous generation. The latter hypothesis 
is in no respect less probable than the former. 
(Zo be continued.) 
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 
Fournal de Physique Thior-que et Appliquée, Par J-Ch. 
d@’Almeida, Prof. de Physique au Lycée Corneille, Paris. We 
have belure us the numbers of the “Journal de Physique 
théorique et appliquée” extending over the first year of its 
existence. ‘T'he object of the journal, which consists of monthly 
parts of about forty pages each, is stated in the preface to the 
first number (January 1872) to be the giving of a new impulse to 
the study of physical science. This its authors aim at doing 
“by unfolding the more recent and less known theories, by 
describing the experiments upon which they rest, by indicating 
the most easy means of repeating them, and by narrating the 
progress which physical science makes day by day in 
France and other countries.” By the execution of this project 
‘they hope to interest everyone who is acquainted with the 
principles of science, to enliven teaching, 10 excite the spirit of 
research, and to stimulate discoveries.” The journal, which is 
principally mathematical in its treatment of the subjects, differs 
considerably from such a journal as the ‘‘ Pailosophical Maga- 
zine.” The ofigimal articles in it are few and unimporiant. 
‘There are criticisms on and reprints of articles selected from 
other journals, and bearing on the subjects to which this is de- 
voted ; but the distinguishing feature of the journal consists in 
articles, continued geucrally throug’ several sucecssive numbers, 
reproducing and elucidating important theories and inves- 
tigations; which are thus presented in an easily accessivle 
form. Thus the first number starts off with an_ drticle 
on ‘Electrostatic measutes,” We also have @ series of 
articles by M. Terquem on electuicity ahd magnetism, beginni 
NATURE 
“oN 
é 
[| April 
in No. 1 with a short article stating the experiments by which it 
is demonstrated that free electricity resides only in the surfaces 
of conductors, and then proceeding in No. 2, and sub equent_ 
numbers, to reat of the various units employed in measuring 
quantities of electricity and magnetism, and the relations which 
exist between them. The reader will gather the character of 
such articles as those to which we refex, from the following enu- 
meration of the titles of a few others of those which are more 
important :—‘‘ On the action of a magnet on a magnetised mole- 
cule at a distance,” ‘t On the analogy between the propagation _ 
of heat and the distribution of electricity,” “‘ On the propagation 
of permanent electric currents,” ‘‘On the employment of th 
wave theory in optical calculations,” ‘On Electrodynamics an 
the theory of induction” These articles do n t contain original 
matter, nor for the most part do they contain matter arranged in 
an original way, but they contain useful and concise expositions 
of the subjects, reproducing such points as the proof of Ampére’s 
theory, Ohm’s laws, the method of comparing electro-magnetic 
and electro-static units, and the like. Such articles will be prin- 
cipally useful to those who cannot obtain the original investiga- 
tions, or who desire to avoid the labour of consulting those 
manuals in which these investigations may be included. The 
journal seems certainly well calculated to extend a knowledge of 
and interest in the subjects with which it deals, and thus to assist 
in achieving the end which it proposes to itself. 
JAMES STUART 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
LONDON 
Royal Society, March 20.—‘‘On the Temperature at which 
Bacteria, Vibriones, and their Supposed Germs are killed when 
immersed in Fluids or exposed to Heat in a Moist State.” By 
H. Charlton Bastian, M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Pathological 
Anatomy in University College, London. (Continued from 
. 413.) 
4 The facts just cited concerning the behaviour of thin films of 
turbid infusions which had been heated to different temperatures 
gave me the clue as to the proper direction of future work. It 
would seem that when mounted in the manner described, such 
thin films of infusion continue capable of supporting and favour- 
ing the multiplication of any already existing Bacteria and Vi- 
briones, although, vnder such conditicns, no new birth of living 
particles appears to take place even in these fluids, The ques- 
tion then arose as to whether, by subjecting larger quantities of 
the same intusions to any particular seis of conditions; we 
could ensure that they also should continue to manifest the same 
properties. Because if so, it would be almost as easy to deter- 
mine the death-point of Bacteria and Vibriones when exposed to 
heat in these infusions, as it had been to determine it for the 
saline solutions already mentioned, 
It was pointed out by Gruithuisen early in the present century 
that many infusions, otherwise very productive, ceased to be so 
when they were poured into a glass vessel whilst boiling, and 
when this was filled, so that the tightly-fiting stopper touched 
the fluid. Having myself proyed the truth of this assertion for 
hay-infusion, it seemed likely that, by having recourse to a 
method of this kind, I should be able to lower the virtues of 
boiled hay and turnip infusions to the level of those possessed by 
the boiled saline solution with which I had previously experi- 
mented—that is, to reduce them toa state in which, whilst 
they appear quite unable of themselves to engender Bacteria or 
Vibriones, they continue well capable of favouring the rapid mui- 
tiplication of such organisms. 
This was found to be the case, and I have accordingly pet- 
formed upwards of one hundred experiments with inoculated 
portions of these two infusivms raised to different temperatures, 
The mode in which the experiments were conducted was as 
follows :— ’ 
Infusions of hay and turnip of slightly different strengths 
were employed. These infusions having been first loosely 
strained through muslin, were boiled for about ten or filteen 
minutes, and then whilst boiling strained through orcihary 
Swedish filtering-paper into a glass beaker which had previously 
been well rinsed wich boiling water. A number of glass boitles 
or tubes were also prepared, which, together with their stoppers 
or corks, had been bgiled in ordinary tap, water for a few 
minutes,* They were taken out full of the boiling fluid; and 
* The vessels eihployed have varied iA capacity from two dfathms t four 
ounces ; some have been provided with glass stoppers and others with very 
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