read during the session 1871-2, some of which are already 
known to our readers. We need only name the principal 
papers. There is, first, the Presidential Address of 1871, 
“ On Motive Power,” delivered by Mr. J. J. Murphy, who 
has also a short, paper on “ The Bernina Lakes;” then 
comes Prof. James Thomson’s admirable paper, “ Specu- 
lations on the Continuity of the Fluid State of Matter, 
and on Transitions between the Gaseous, the Liquid, and 
the Solid States.” This is followed by two short papers, 
one by Dr. J. D. Everett on “ The Reduction of Observa- 
tions of Wet and Dry Bulb Thermometers,” and another 
on “Recent Changes of Coast-level at Ballyholme Bay, 
Co. Down,” by Mr. Robert Young, C.E., who has also an 
excellent paper on “ The Duty of Preserving National 
Monuments.” Mr. John Anderson contributes a paper 
on “ The Geological Formation of County Down,” the 
Rev. Dr. Macloskie a long paper on “ The Silicified Wood 
of Lough Neagh ;” and there are also one or two papers 
of antiquarian and social interest. Appended is an in- 
teresting obituary notice by the secretary, Mr. Taylor, 
of the late Mr. Robert Patterson, F.R.S., one of the 
founders of the Society, and. who, amid the cares atten- 
dant on the carrying on of a large commercial establish- 
ment, managed to find time to prosecute to very good 
purpose the study of natural history, and even to write 
admirable zoological text-books, and take an active part 
in the promotion of science and of social progress. The 
first number is edited by Mr. Murphy and Dr. H. Burden, 
and we hope the Society will produce material enough to 
bring out an equally good number every year. 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 
[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 
by his correspondents, No notice is taken of anonymous 
communications. ] 
Dr, Huizinga’s Experiments 
In a letter published in last week’s NATURE, in which Dr. 
Bastian comments on a short paper read by me at Bradford on 
certain experiments of Dr. Huizinga, he challenges me to deal 
with his “ main proposition,” which is “that Bacteria are capable 
of arising in fluids independently of living reproductive or 
ge rminal particles.” 
In so far as relates to the subject of my communication, I 
have done so by showing that in the case of Huizinga’s liquid 
Bacteria can be prevented from arising by heating the liquid to 
a temperature somewhat above boiling. 
I hope that Dr. Bastian will allow me to decline to enter on 
the general question, and will believe that in doing so I am not 
insensible either to the difficulties of the subject, or to the value 
and importance of his own experimental investigations. 
Oct. 13 J. BuURDON SANDERSON 
Experiments on the Development of Bacteria in 
Organic Infusions 
THE correspondence in: your journal on this subject (relating 
chiefly to the statements of Dr. Bastian) in which I took a part 
some six or seven months since—renders it necessary, in justice 
to myself, and I may add, in justice to the memory of my friend, 
Dr. Pode, whose loss has prevented me from continuing a 
series of experiments on the nutrition of Bacteria, commenced in 
the spring—to give some account in your columns of experi- 
ments carried out by us, which demonstrate that Dr. Bastian’s 
assertions as to infusions of turnip and turnip-cheese are devoid 
of foundation in fact. The paper in which our results are given 
in detail was sent in to the Royal Society at the end of last 
March and printed in May (Proceedings, No. 145). Since you 
are not able to afford space for the reproduction of that paper 
in full, I must beg to refer your readers, for details, to that 
publication of the Royal Society. Here I may be allowed to 
sketch briefly the results and their bearing on Dr. Bastian’s 
statements, The following passage from that gentleman’s 
“Beginnings of Life” (vol. i. p. 429) induced us to make 
NATURE 
experiments similar to those mentioned in it, with the view of 
testing the correctness of his conclusion as to matter of fact :— 
**On the other hand, the labours of very many experimenters 
have now placed it beyond all question of doubt or cavil that 
living Bacteria, Torule, and other low forms of life will make 
their appearance and multiply within hermetically-sealed flasks 
(containing organic infusions) whichyhad been previously heated 
to 212° F., even for one or two hours. This result is now so 
easily and surely obtainable, as to make it come within the 
domain of natural law.” And in a note is added, ‘‘in a very 
large number of trials I have never had a single failure when an 
infusion of turnip has been employed; and from what I have 
more recently seen of the effects produced by the addition of a 
very minute fragment of cheese to such an infusion (see 
Appendix C, pp. xxxiv.-xxxviii), I fully believe that in 999 cases 
out of 1,000, if not in every case, a positive result could be 
obtained.” 
The extract which follows is from a paper by Dr. Bastian in 
NATURE, vol. vii. p. 275, and is perhaps more remarkable than the _ 
preceding, because it is of later date and refers to a simple infu- 
sion of turnip. 
‘Taking such a fluid, therefore, in the form of a strong filtered 
infusion of turnip, we may place it after ebullition in a super- 
heated flask, with the assurance that it contains no living organ- 
isms. 
with the boiled saline fluids, that there is no danger of infection 
by Zacteria from the atmosphere, we may leave the rather narrow 
mouth of the flask open, as we did in these experiments. 
when this is done, the previously clear turnip-infusion invariably 
becomes turbid in one or two days (the temperature being about 
70° F.), owing to the presence of myriads of Bacteria.” The 
italics are my own. 
Dr. Pode and I give in our paper the details of 53 experi- 
ments, of which 11 were made with hay-infusion, the rest with 
turnip- or turnip-and-cheese infusion. We had some trouble at 
first in ascertaining some of the conditions under which Dr. 
Bastian experimented—since he does not state them in his book. 
In the first place we ascertained through these columns the specific 
gravity of Dr. Bastian’s turnip-infusion. We made a number of 
experiments after obtaining that information, which are recorded 
in our paper, and which invariably gave opposite results to those 
obtained by Dr. Bastian. At the beginning of this year we 
ascertained through Dr. Sanderson, in the columns of NATURE, ~ 
that Dr. Bastian made use of two-ounce retorts; and that par- 
ticles of cheese visible to the naked eye were present in his infu- 
sions at the time of boiling. Dr. Sanderson also stated that Dr. 
Bastian attached importance to the peeling of the turnips used. 
With this additional information we made further experiments, 
which tend to explain the failure of Dr. Bastian to keep his in- 
fusions free from Bacterian contamination. 
There are four points which require attention in these experi- 
ments, and which were attended to in our series, but we must 
suppose were not attended to by Dr. Bastian. 
In the first place the infusions were examined by the micro- — 
scope at the time of sealing the tubes, as well as subsequently. 
What we sought to determine was whether a change had occurred 
in the infusion. Spherical and other particles besides dead Bac- 
teria occur in freshly-boiled infusions, which might lead to erro- 
neous conclusions when seen subsequently, if their previous 
existence had not been ascertained. ‘ 
Secondly, we employed small tubes, five inches in length and 
of half-inch bore. It appeared to us not at all improbable, from 
the results of some experiments made by us with retorts such as 
Dr. Bastian used, that a boiling for five or ten minutes, before 
closure, of an ounce of liquid in a vessel of that peculiar shape, 
might sometimes give a development of Bacteria, owing to the 
protective effect of ‘‘spluttering,” and the large mass to be 
guarded. 
Thirdly, in the majority of cases—though we had no reason to 
doubt the efficiency (as proved by the results) of the boiling for 
five minutes in one of our small tubes, ceteris Sarita to 
ensure thorough exposure of every part of the tube and liquid to 
the boiling temperature, we submerged many of our tubes in 
boiling water for a quarter or a half an hour after their closure, 
This method we finally adopted as the most certain to ensure 
the destruction of Bacterian contamination ; it is essentially the 
same as that subsequently adopted by Dr. Burdon-Sanderson in 
the experiments described in a letter in NATURE, vol. viii. p. 141, 
the difference being that, ‘*to make assurance doubly sure,” Dr. 
Sanderson raises the temperature of the water in which his tubes 
Oy - 
[ Oct. 16, 1873 ; 
Having ascertained also, by our previous experiments — 
But © 
~ 
