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Liquids and Fluids, 
and the Circumstances which determine their Existence in Animal 
In this were detailed the results of a large 
number of experiments undertaken to throw light upon the phe- 
nomena of contagion. The authors employed Pasteur’s solution, 
and also certain animal fluids, but they wished it to be understood 
that the conclusions at which they had arrived had reference 
merely to the different fluids employed, and had no distinct bear- 
ing upon the possibility or non-possibility of spontaneous genera- 
tion occurring in other fluids. They did not find any evidence 
to show that organisms arose ¢e evo in their fluids. On the 
contrary, they thought that the occurrence and number of or- 
ganisms had to do with the extent of exposure to germs either in 
air or water, Some of the results arrived at were very impor- 
tant. Boiling the fluids employed was always found to destroy 
all Bacteria and their germs, and other experiments were re- 
corded, tending to show that the air did not contain living 
Bacteria, as so many have assumed, They also ascertained that 
Bacteria were unable to resist the effects of desiccation even at 
the ordinary temperature of the air. Their examination of the 
fluids of the body tended to show that these, in their normal con- 
dition, did not contain the germs of Aacteria or other organisms. 
Blood and serum, when received in super-heated vessels and 
exposed only to super-heated air, did not undergo putrefaction— 
apparently because these fluids did not contain the germs of 
living organisms. 
Dr, Dougal then read a paper Ox the relative Powers of various 
Substances in preventing the Generationjof Animalcules, or the 
Development of thetr Germs, with special reference to the Germ 
Theory of Putrefaction, in which he detailed the results of his 
experiments upon the power which various poisons, antiseptic 
substances, and salts have in arresting the development of organ- 
isms, and in preventing the phenomena of putrefaction. His 
conclusions were wholly adverse to the germ theory of fermen- 
tation and putrefaction. 
Dr. Charlton Bastian, F.R.S., followed witha communication 
On some new Experiments relating to the Origin of Life. After 
calling attention to the fact that not-living mineral materials were 
continually being converted into the substance of plants during 
their growth, and that no special ‘vital principle” was now 
believed by physiologists to exist in plants, he said that the 
question that had to be settled was, whether the elements of not- 
living matter could group themselves anew, so as to produce 
living matter under the influence of the same physical forces 
which were concerned in bringing about the growth of the plant ; 
or whether such combination could only be effected in the 
presence of pre-existing living matter in which (as was generally 
admitted) no special forces were resident. This question could, 
he thought, only be settled by experiments. Fluids deemed 
suitable for the production or development of living things had 
to be enclosed within hermetically sealed vessels, and then such 
flasks and their contents had to be exposed to a degree of heat 
which could be proved to be destructive to any pre-existing 
living matter which they might contain. If, after the lapse of a 
certain period, the flasks still remaining hermetically sealed, the 
fluid showed evidence of the existence and multiplication of life, 
then it was argued such living things must have been evolved 
nove from some new combination among the organic molecules 
contained in the solution. It was therefore obviously impos- 
sible to come to any conclusion on the subject until it had been 
definitely ascertained what amount of heat living matter (existing 
in the form of the lowest organisms) could withstand. The evi- 
dence on this subject was, Dr. Bastian thought, very clear and 
decisive. In the first place, he had taken water containing large 
quantities of 4 mebe, ciliated infusoria, and other organisms, and 
had ascertained that they were invariably killed by raising the 
temperature of the water in which they were contained to 140° F, 
When we have to do with organisms of this size there can be no | 
difficulty in ascertaining what the effects of the heat have been. 
Some of the organisms were partially disorganised by this tem- 
perature, and none of them ever showed any signs of life after 
the exposure, although kept under observation for 24 hours or 
more. Dr. Bastian then referred to other experiments which he 
had elsewhere recorded, showing that Bacteria, Zorude, and their 
germs, whether visible or invisible, were destroyed by exposure 
for ten minutes to 140° F. 
A solution of tartrate of ammonia when inoculated witha drop 
of fluid containing living Aacterza and Zoru/e, became quite 
turbid in the course of one or two days, owing to the presence 
and multiplication of myriads of Bacteria, But when a similarly 
inoculated solution was exposed to the temperature of 140° F, or 
NATURE 



upwards, it afterwards remained perfectly clear, even ‘thor 
freely exposed to the air, thus showing, not only that the or- 
ganisms and their germs which had been inoculated were killed 
by exposure to this temperature, but that the air did not cont 
any such multitude of living Bacteria germs as had been al 
Even had he been unable to fix the precise degree of heat wl 
was fatal to all those lower organisms, it would be important 
remember that the greatest unanimity of opinion prevailed am 
almost all experimenters (such as Pasteur, Huxley, Pouch 
Wyman, and others) as to the fact that the lower organisms we 
killed in fluids heated to 212° F. Knowledge as to the limits 
‘vital resistance” to heat being declared the necessary starti 
point for further investigation, he had made twenty-four experi. 
ments at temperatures ranging from 266’ to 302° F., and he 
particular attention to the fact that in about one-half of the 
experiments no living things had been obtained from the seal 
flasks. His conclusion, therefore, as to the possibility of 
de nove origin of living matter could not be rebutted by other 
experimenters who hastily recorded one or two negative results 
with the view of showing that he had been in error, Three 
of the most successful of his more recent experiments in 
which he had resorted to these high temperatures were then’ 
recorded. In two of these strong turnip infusions, neutralised 
hy dguor potasse, were employed, one of which was exposed 

to 266° F. for twenty minutes, and the other to 
293 F. for ten minutes. The hermetically sealed flasks 
and their contents were subsequently kept in a war 
place for eight or nine weeks, and they were exposed for several — 
hours daily during eight days to the direct influence of sunlight. 
Before opening the flasks the vacuum was ascertained to be still 
preserved. After breaking the necks of the flasks the fluids were 
found in both cases to have become slightly acid, and to present — 
a somewhat sour odeur. On microscopical examination of the 
fluid Zorw/e in all stages of development were found in both, 
and in that which had been exposed to the temperature of 226° 
F. a considerable number of Sacteria were also present. In — 
the third experiment a strong infusion of a common crucifer 
was made, and the sealed flask into which it was introduced, after — 
having been exposed to the temperature of 266° F. for twenty 
minutes, was subsequently maintained at a warm temperature, — 
and also subjected to the influence of direct sunlight for a time. — 
The vacuum having been ascertained to be well preserved, the 
flask was opened at the end of eight weeks, and among the con- 
tents of the flask there were found three slowly moving, very 
minute Protemede, and many extremely active tailed A/enads, in — 
addition to multitudes of Bacteria and Toruie. The activetailed — 
‘Monads obtained from this flask were almost immediately ex- 
posed in an experimental hotwater oven to a temperature of 140° 
F. for ten minutes, and the result was that all these Afenads taken 
from the hermetically sealed flask which had been heated to 266° 
¥. were killed by the much lower temperature of 140° F. This 
result was subsequently confirmed by other observations which 
tended to show that ‘/onad’s were not only killed by a tempera- 
ture short of that at which water boils, but that they were more or 
less disintegrated by such an exposure. The experiments, sup- 
ported as they were by many others of like nature, were, Dr. — 
Bastian contended, of so strict and crucial a nature as to entitle 
us to believe that living matter might be born de zreve in solutions, 
owing to the occurrence of new combinations therein. He — 
further contended that such new-born living matter might, as the 
experiments tended to show, more or less directly assume the 
forms of some of the lowest organisms, just as specks of erystal- 
line matter assume those more or less complex shapes which 4 
characterise the crystals of various saline substances. | 
\ 
A general discussion then followed on the three papers, and 
perhaps the most practical contribution to it was furnished by 
Miss Becker, who said that the question had an important bear- 
ing on domestic economy, in relation to the making of preserves 
and the preservation of jam from mould, She advised theladies 
present, when making preserves, to exclude the air before the 
preserve had cooled. The President afterwards took back the 
audience to the regions of pure science, and congratulated his 
hearers that this mort important subject was now attracting the 
attention of many earnest and philosophical workers. 
SUB-SECTION, —ANTHROPOLOGY 
On Tuesday, August 8th, the Anthropological section, in con- 
sequence of the crowded attendance, moved into the largest lec- 
ture hall in the Science and Art Museum. Mr. Kaines read the 
first paper Ox the Anthropology of Auguste Comte,” in which he 
