TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 123 



To determine tWs point experiments were made with solution of sugar, hay in- 

 fusion, solution of gelatine, and water that had been in contact with putrid meat. 



To carry out these experiments, the author prepared a series of small tubes made 

 of very thick well-annealed glass, each tube about 4 centimetres in length and having 

 a bore of 5 millimetres. The fluid to be operated upon was introduced into them, 

 and left exposed to the atmosphere for a sufficient length of time for germ-life to 

 be largely developed. Each tube was then hermetically sealed and wrapped in 

 wire gauze. They were then placed in an oil-bath and gradually heated to the 

 required temperature, at which they were maintained for half an hour. 



The sugar solution was prepared by dissolving one part of sugar in ten parts of 

 common water, and exposed to the atmosphere all night, so that life might im- 

 pregnate it, then placed in tubes and allowed to stand five days. Some of the 

 tubes were kept without being heated, others heated to 200, 300, 400, and 500° Fahr. 

 respectively. After being kept twenty-four days, the contents of the tubes were 

 microscopically examined. 



In the solution not heated, much life was seen ; at 212° a great portion of the 

 life had disappeared, at 300° the sugar was sUghtly charred but the life not en- 

 tirely destroyed, while at 400° and 500° the sugar was almost entirely chan-ed, and 

 no trace of life observed. (It is a small black vibrio which resists the high tempera- 

 tm-e, and remains unaffected by all chemical solutions.) 



The hay infusion was made by macerating hay in common water for one hour, 

 filtering the liquor and leaving it exposed to the atmosphere aU night, when it 

 was sealed in the smaU tubes. The results were examined twenty-four days after 

 being heated. 



In this case, as in the sugar solution, life was observed in the solutions heated 

 to 200° and 300° Fahr., while in those heated to 400" and 600° F. life was de- 

 stroyed. In tlie solution not heated fungus matter was observed, while none ap- 

 peiared in any of tlie heated solutions. 



A solution of gelatine of such strength that it remained liquid in cooling, was 

 exposed to the atmosphere for twenty-four hours, and introduced into the small 

 tubes which were sealed and heated. The fluids were examined twenty-four days 

 after being heated. 



The animalcules in this case were principally of a different class to those observed 

 in the two preceding cases, and this class were injured at 100° Fahr. At 212° a 

 considerable diminution in the amount had taken place, whilst at 300° all life was 

 destroyed. 



Water was placed in an open vessel, and a piece of meat suspended in it imtU. it 

 became putrid. This fluid was placed in the usual tubes heated, and the contents 

 examined after twenty -four days. In this case life was still observed at 300° Fahr., 

 while at 400° it had disappeared. 



As previous experimenters have not exposed their solutions to so high a tempera- 

 ture as 300^ Fahr., the life which they found was due to the development of germs 

 remaining in the fluid. 



Parts of the putrid meat solutions that had been heated were mixed with albu- 

 men, to ascertain whether they still possessed the power of propagating life, the 

 result being that up to 300° Fahr. life and its germs had not been destroyed, whilst 

 at 400° they had. 



Putrid meat liquor was exposed for twenty hours to a temperature ranging from 

 the freezing-point to 17° below that point. Immediately after melting the ice the 

 animalcules appeared languid, and their power of locomotion was gi-eatly decreased, 

 but in two hom-s they appeared as energetic as before. 



On Spontaneous Generation, or Protoplasmic Life. 

 By F. Ceace-Calteet, F.B.S. 



The publication of Dr. Tyndall's paper on the abundance of germ-life in the at- 

 mosphere, and the difficulty of destroying this life, as well as other papers pub- 

 lished by eminent men of science, suggested the inquiry if the germs existing or 

 produced in a liquid in a state of fermentation or of putrefaction could be conveyed 



