122 REPORT— 1871. 



were permitted to secure conditions by which the reality of the phenomena, or the 

 justice of their interpretation, could be tested, Aiz. either that, on the one hand, 

 the phenomena were not essentially different from those well known to physiologists 

 as modifications of the nervous and muscular functions under peculiar mental 

 states ; or that, on the other hand, the experiments signally failed to educe the 

 results professed, or that the experimenters were detected in shameless and deter- 

 mined impostures. I have myself been fully convinced of this by repeated ex- 

 aminations ; and I can scarcely doubt that the same fate awaits the fair scientific 

 examination of the so-called spiritualistic phenomena*. But were any guarantee 

 required for the care, soundness, and efficiency of the judgment of men of science on 

 such phenomena and views, I have only to mention, in the first place, the revered 

 name of Faraday, and in the next that of my life-long fiiend Dr. Sharpey, whose 

 ability and candour none wiU dispute, and who, I am happy to think, is here among 

 us, ready, from his past experience of such exhibitions, to bear his testimony against 

 all cases. of levitativn, or the like, which may be the last wonder of the day among 

 the mesmeric or spiritual pseudo-physiologists. The phenomena to which I have 

 at present referred are in gi-eat part dependent upon natural principles of the 

 human mird, placed, as it would appear, in dangerous alliance with certain ten- 

 dencies of the nervous system. They ought not to be worked upon without the 

 greatest caution, and they can only be fully understood by the accomplished physi- 

 ologist who is also conversant with healthy and morbid psychology. The experi- 

 ence of the last hundred years tends to show that, while there are always to be 

 found persons peculiarly liable to exhibit the phenomena in question, there will 

 also exist a certain number of minds prone to adopt a belief in the marvellous and 

 striking in preference to that which is easily understood and patent to the senses ; 

 but it may be confidently expected that the diff"Lision of a fuller and more accurate 

 knowledge of physiology among the non-scientific classes of the community may 

 lead to a juster appreciation of the phenomena in question, and a reduction of the 

 number among them who are believers in scientific impossibilities. 



On some new Experiments relating to the Orir/in of Life. 

 By Dr. Chaklton Bastian, F.li.8, 



On the Action of Heat on Germ-life. By P. Ceace-Calveet, F.lt.8. 



The question of building ovens for disinfecting purposes, gives the subject of 

 this paper more than a merely scientific interest, as it thus becomes one of great 

 practical importance. As it is foimd that certain forms of life can exist when 

 exposed to a temperature equal to that at which the charring of organic matter 

 commences, it is unsafe to assume that the particular forms of life which propa- 

 gate certain forms of disease wiU be destroyed below this temperature. As from 

 the nature of the case stoving can only be partially applicable, and as it is at pre- 

 sent not proved eftective where it is applicable, it is imadvisable to spend public 

 money imtil a gi-eater degree of certainty is arrived at. 



The experiments described were not, however, undertaken with an intention of 

 influencing the settlement of this question, but were part of a series on the question 

 of putrefaction and the development of life. 



It has hitherto been assumed by the advocates of the theory of spontaneous 

 generation, that a temperature of 212° Fahr., or the boiling-point of the fluid 

 operated on, was sufficient to destroy all protoplasmic life, and that any life sub- 

 sequently observed in such fluids must nave been developed from non-li-ving 

 matter. 



* Tn consequence of several remonstrances made to me since the address was delivered, 

 ropresenting that the phenomena of spiritualism had not yet been subjected to a full 

 scientific investigation, I have been induced to alter the two preceding sentences from 

 their original into their present form. But I am still of opinion that these phenomena 

 belong essentially to the same class as those of Mesmerism and Electrobiology. 



