isks from which all air has been expelled. The evidence in 
possession is therefore most complete on this part of the 
ibject : it shows beyond all doubt, not only that putrefaction 
“may and does very frequently occur under conditions in which 
| the advent of atmospheric particles, whether living or dead, is 
no longer possible, but also that living particles derived from 
e atmosphere can only be very rare and altogether exceptional 
‘initiators of the putrefaction which invariably occurs in pre- 
| viously boiled infusions exposed to the air. 
| Again, the evidence which we now possess with reference to 
the influence of heat upon Bacteria, Vibriones, and their sup- 
ed germs is no less decisive. It has been unmistakably 
proved that such organisms and their imaginary germs are either 
actually or potentially killed by a brief exposure to the tempera- 
ture of 140° F. when in the moist state ; and it had also been 
previously established that they are invariably killed by desicca- 
ion even at much lower temperatures. * 
| But if living germs do not come from the air to contaminate 
the previously boiled fluids, and if it is not possible for any of 
_ them to have escaped the destructive influence of heat in the boil- 
fluid or on the walls of the vessel in which the fluid is con- 
ed, what can be the mode of origin of the swarms of living 
which so rapidly and invariably appear in such infusions 
when contained in open flasks, and which so frequently appear 
_ when the infusions are contained in flasks whose necks are closed 
against atmospheric particles of all kinds? They can only have 
arisen by the process which I have termed Archebiosis. 
i ConcLusIONS 
If a previously boiled ammonic-tartrate solution remains free 
from Bacteria and Vibriones when exposed to the air, it is because 
the air does not contain living organisms of this kind or their 
supposed germs, and because mere dead organic particles are 
not capable of initiating putrefaction in such a fluid. 
And if ordinary organic infusions previously boiled and ex- 
_ posed to the air do rapidly putrefy, though some of the same 
infusions when exposed only to filtered air remain pure, it is 
because such fluids are, in the absence of living units, quite 
_ amenable to the influence of the dead organic particles which the 
air so abundantly contains, although they are not self-ferment- 
able. 
Whilst if other more changeable fluids, after previous boiling, 
when exposed to filtered air or cut off altogether from contact 
with air, do nevertheless undergo putrefaction or fermentation, 
it is because these fluids are self-fermentable, and need neither 
living units nor dead organic particles to initiate those putrefac- 
tive or fermentative changes which lead to the evolution of 
living organisms. 
NATURE 
275 
hard on drying.—Prof. Rutherford tabulates experiments proving 
that the retardation of the pulse in the rabbit, which follows 
closure of the nostrils, depends on the obstruction of the respi- 
ration, and not as Drs. Brown-Séquard and Sanderson supposed, 
on direct reflex action. Mr. Dewar and Dr. McKendrick describe 
experiments on the Physiological Action of Light, an account of 
which has already appeared in this journal.—Mr. Blake, of San 
Francisco, has a paper ontheaction of thesaltsof the metalssodium, 
lithium, cesium, &c., when introduced directly into the blood. 
Mr. A. II. Smee, in a paper on the physical nature of the 
coagulation of the blood, endeavours to prove that it coagulates 
in obedience to a purely physical law, namely, the power of 
soluble colloid matter to pectinise, or spontaneously to coagu- 
late. Mr. Garrod, on the law which regulates the frequency of 
the pulse, proposes as a substitue for that given by Marey, the 
following :—the heart re-commenccs to beat when the arterial 
tension has fallen an invariable proportion, this being the only 
possibleSexplanation of the facts that pulse rate varies with arte 
rial resistance and not with blood pressure. He also gives a new 
theory of the source of nerve force.—Dr. Charles, Prof. Curzon, 
and Prof. Drachmann, record peculiarities in anthropotomy, the 
first in the arterial system, the second in the muscular and ner- 
vous system, and the third in the muscular.—There is an excel- 
lent and very careful review, by Mr. Trotter, of the Rev. Samuel 
Haughton’s “ Principles of Animal Mechanics,” which will be 
very valuable to many physiologists, who here have the oppor- 
tunity of seeing the opinion of a mathematician, who is also a 
biologist, of a work which might by itself lead them to think 
that the physiogical basis for work was in a better position 
than it really is, 
Bulletin Mensuel de la Société d’Acclimatation de Paris 
for June. A great portion is devoted to the description of 
the best modes of rearing silkworms and the more suitable 
kinds of food for feeding them. A paper is devoted to the 
Japanese Mulberry (Morus japonica), which is being intro- 
duced into France as producing a superior food for the silkworm. 
—The ‘cultivation of various kinds of beans and melons 
is advocated by M. Bossin, and his paper might be read with 
advantage in this country, where these vegetables are not suffi- 
ciently valued as an article of diet. Not only the acclimatisation 
of useful, but the destruction of hurtful animals, plants, and in- 
sects, forms part of the programme of the society, and we have 
therefore some remarks on insecticides and on the preservation of 
insectivorous birds.—The American notes on pisciculture, on the 
grey wolf, and the commerce of Chicago are interesting. A 
black monkey from Sumatra has just arrived at the Jardin 
d’Acclimatation, but it is not expected to live, 
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 
{ THe June number of the Yournal of Anatomy and Physiology 
contains several papers of special interest, as well as the excellent 
summaries by Profs. Turner and Rutherford, of the progress of 
Anatomy and Physiology during the last six months. Prof. 
Turner describes, for the first time, the Visceral Anatomy of 
the Greenland Shark (Zemargus borealis) from two specimens 
caught near the Bell Rock. The larger was 11 feet 8 inches long, 
_ and the other 84 feet: they were both females. The most im- 
portant peculiarities of this fish, wherein it differs from other 
sharks are, that the dursa entiana is not developed ; that there 
are two large duodenal ceca, one of which is closely adherent 
“to the pyloric tube, as well as a true pancreas, corresponding 
with the similar condition found by Alessandrini in the Stur- 
geon ; and that there are no oviducts, so that the ova must be 
Becharred into the peritoneal cavity. From these peculiarities 
the author places Zemargus in a family by itself, named by 
him Lemargide.—Prof. Turner also, in a short paper on the so- 
called claw at the end of the tail of the lion, shows that no true 
_ claw exists, but that the tip of the tail is hairless, and becomes 
* See the experiments and conclusions of Dr. Burdon Sanderson in Thir- 
teenth Report of Med. Officer of Privy Council, p. 61: This fact of the 
_ inability of these*organisms and their germs to resist desiccation shows the 
futility of some objections which have been from time to time raised by those 
_ who thought that Bacteria, Vibriones, and their germs might resist the de- 
structive influence of heat by adhesion to the glass above the level of the fluid, 
4 
am 
= = 
or even in the fluid itself, just as dried and very thick-coated seeds have 
- been known to do. Dry heat would seem to be even more fatal to such or- 
anisms and their germs than a moist heat of the same degree, owing to 
7 heir extreme inability to resist desiccation ; if they become dry they are 
Bid at atemperature of 104° F., whilst if they remain moist they succumb, 
as we have seen, to a temperature of 140” F. . 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
LONDON 
Quekett Microscopical Club, July 25.—Dr. Braithwaite, 
F.L.S., president, in the chair.—This being the annual 
meeting, the report of the committee for the past year 
was read, and testified to the continued prosperity of the 
club, which now numbers 570 members.—The president 
delivered the annual address, in the course of which he 
noticed the progress of microscopical investigation in Botany 
and Zoology during the past year.—The ballot then took place 
for the election of officers. Dr. Braithwaite was re-elected pre- 
sident ; Dr. Matthews, Messrs. b. T. Lowne, T. W. Burr, and 
C. F. White, vice-presidents; and Messrs. Bywater, Crisp, 
Hailes, Hind, Waller, and T. C. White, were elected to fill the 
six vacancies on the committee. Mr. J. E. Ingpen succeeded 
Mr. T. C. White, who retires from the office of hon. sec. 
(owing to increase of his professional duties), after four years of 
unremitting and valuable service. The proceedings terminated 
with the usual conversazione. 
BELGIUM 
Royal Academy of Sciences, May 13.—Reports were 
given in on the following papers :—On the Superficial Tension 
of Liquids considered in reference to certain movements observed 
on their surface, by M. G. Van der Mensbrugghe, which it 
was resolved to print in the Memoires.—On_ the Osculatory 
Sphere, a note by M. L. Saltel, which is printed in the Bulletin. 
—On the chloric acetonitriles, by M. L. Bisschopinck, also 
printed in the Aud//etin.—Essay on the state of vegetation at the 
