Fuly 6, 1871] 
NATURE 
179 

in the atmosphere. The fact that vessels with bent necks 
or with plugs of cotton-wool do not produce organisms, 
while other vessels not so protected produce them in 
abundance, is shown, by numerous experiments, not to be 
universal. The evidence now adduced is held to prove 
that a variety of conditions hitherto not attended to affect 
the result, such as temperature, the strength of the solu- 
tion, and especially the presence of particles of organic 
matter, other than “germs,” derived from the atmo- 
sphere. A summary is given of sixty-five compara- 
tive experiments, which are believed to show, among 
other things, that the non-production of Bacteria, &c., 
in infusions and other suitable liquids, is so common 
an occurrence that the negative experiments of Pasteur 
and others have no weight as compared with the positive 
results obtained by a considerable number of observers, 
to whom the author refers, as well as by himself. 
Some of these comparative experiments are very sug- 
gestive. Hay infusion, for instance, exposed to air, pro- 
duced abundance of Bacteria in forty-eight hours, and 
these had increased considerably in sixty-eight hours. A 
similar infusion, sealed up after the fluid had become cold, 
behaved ina similar manner. The same in a flask with neck 
two feet long and having eight acute flexures, remained 
unchanged for twelve days. A similar infusion, hermeti- 
cally sealed during ebullition, on the other hand, showed 
turbidity in forty-eight hours, which subsequently increased, 
and Bacteria, Vibriones, Leptothrix,and Torule were found 
in abundance. Here, then, whatever inference may be 
drawn from the first three experiments is entirely negatived 
by the fourth. Other experiments show that ammonia- 
tartrate solution sealed zz vacuo at a temperature of 
go° F. produced in eighty-four hours abundance of Bac- 
teria; while the same solution, if boiled at 212° F. and 
exposed to the air in flasks covered with paper caps, re- 
mained quite clear for nine days; yet as soon as it was 
inoculated with living Bacteria, they increased rapidly and 
produced turbidity. These, and a number of other equally 
suggestive experiments, indicate that the conditions favour- 
able to the origin and to the zucrease of these low forms 
are not always identical. Both are very complex, and we 
cannot avoid the conclusion that the advocates of the 
universal germ theory have been somewhat hasty in found- 
ing their doctrine upon insufficient data, for the most part 
of a negative character. 
We have here, undoubtedly, an important addition to 
the experimental evidence by which alone the question 
can be decided, and we are glad to observe the unpre- 
judiced and philosophical spirit with which Dr. Bastian 
discusses this most interesting and important problem. 
A. R, WALLACE 

THE WORKSHOP 
The Workshop. Edited by Prof. W. Baumer, J. Schnorr, 
and others. (London: J. Hagger, 67, Paternoster Row.) 
(mass RY year of dur national progress strengthens the 
national appreciation of the wisdom expressed in 
those words of the late Prince Consort, when he told the 
manufacturers of Birmingham that “the introduction of 
Science and Art as the conscious regulators of productive 
industry is destined to play a great and important part in 
the future development of this nation, and the world in 

general.” I take the liberty of italicising the word 
“conscious,” remembering well the emphasis with which 
it was spoken, and being strongly impressed with the 
vast importance of this qualification. 
Science of some sort, and art of some sort, have always 
regulated the operations of productive industry, The 
club of the savage is not uncommonly carved with much 
art, and shaped and poised with sound practical know- 
ledge of the whereabouts of the weapon at which will be 
concentrated the whole force of the blow when it 
swings through the curve which the stroke of the arm 
will give it. The savage artisan is, however, utterly 
unconscious of the dynamical principles upon which the 
centre of oscillation or percussion is determined, and 
upon which his own skill depends. He follows a blind 
instinct but one degree higher than that which impels the 
bee to construct its honey-comb upon sound statical 
principles. The more civilised workman who merely 
proceeds according to the “rule of thumb” and the 
traditions of his trade, is in a similar intellectual condi- 
tion to that of the bee and the savage. In his daily 
occupation his specially human faculties are scarcely ex- 
ercised. The constructive instinct which he possesses in 
common with the beaver or the wasp is sufficient to guide 
his muscles in doing such work in sucha manner. To 
talk of the “dignity of labour” when labour is thus con- 
ducted is merely to indulge in senseless and vicious phrase- 
mongering. 
The whole life and being of the artisan becomes changed 
immediately his daily work is conusctously regulated by 
science and art. It then becomes an elevating instead of 
a brutalising occupation ; the “dignity of labour” is re- 
moved from the sphere of platform verbiage to that 
of practical fact, and the workshop becomes a school of 
intellectual and moral culture, 
We must always remember that the character of a man 
is formed by the daily, hourly, and continuous habits of 
his life, that no quantity or excellence of mere Sunday ser- 
mons, or occasional evening meetings, can overpower 
these. The philanthropist who would practically influencce 
the character of the workman must operate upon him in 
and through the workshop ; and it appears to me that there 
are no conceivable means so effectual for this purpose as 
the converting his bread-winning work from a mere 
mechanical brutal drudgery into a moral and intellectual 
exercise. To understand thoroughly the scientific prin- 
ciples involved in all the operations of any common handi- 
craft is to know a great deal more than our greatest 
philosophers are yet acquainted with, and therefore the 
field of the consciously scientific artisan is wide enough 
for the intellectual effort of a life time. If, in addition to 
the physical science of his trade, he is conscious of his 
own social relations and functions, if he knows the part 
which he is playing in the great machinery of society, 
the motive to his industry will not be that of a merely 
sordid grubbing for wages, but the sense of duty and the 
chivalry of reciprocal beneficence will be introduced, and 
will perpetually operate as necessary results of this scientific 
consciousness of his own social functions. 
If soldiers and sailors can be taught to glorify their 
work, and rise to heroism in their efforts to do their duty 
and serve their country, why should not the spinner, the 
weaver, the tailor, the agriculturist, the miller, and the 
