186 Transactions.— Zoology. 
the experience of every one that very high degrees of dry heat can be sus- 
tained by living bodies with impunity ; so that spores entering with the air 
through the iron tube need not necessarily be destroyed. 
Any one who reads Dr. Bastian’s book on the “ Beginnings of Life ” will lay 
it down feeling convinced of the possibility of spontaneous generation, and yet 
on close examination it is full of glaringly false facts ; for instance, he states : 
** À closed flask containing a very strong infusion of hay, to which had been 
added th part of carbolic acid, was opened twelve days after it had been 
hermetically sealed." Bastian states that this flask contained organisms of a 
peculiar form. Such a statement as this—that a saturated solution of 
carbolie acid can permit the growth of organisms—is opposed to all expe- 
rience and experiment. It is usually found that so small a proportion of 
carbolie acid as the ;1,th part effectually prevents the growth of organisms 
in organic infusions freely exposed to the air. The supposed organisms 
were probably granular deposits produced by the action of the strong acid 
on the glass or the hay infusion compounds. Many of Bastian’s experiments 
were made with cheese ; now, the spores of Bacillus subtilis, which abound 
in cheese, have peculiarly resisting powers, and, being contained in a badly 
conducting material like cheese, might easily escape the boiling point. 
With regard to Bastian’s experiments Dr. Roberts says: Dr. Bastian’s 
process does not insure that the entire contents of the flask are effectively 
exposed to the boiling heat. 
Professor Huxley states in ** Nature," that he had seen Dr. Bastian’s 
experiments and preparations, and expressed his belief that the organisms 
which Dr. Bastian got out of his tubes were exactly those which he put 
into them; that in fact he had used impure materials, and that what he 
imagined to be the gradual development of life and organization was the 
simple result of the settling of these solid impurities. For instance, he 
relates how on one occasion Dr. Bastian showed him a specimen of a fungus 
which had developed spontaneously, which Huxley recognized as a fragment 
of the leaf of a Sphagnum, and that it was so he ultimately with great diffi- 
culty convinced Dr. Bastian. 
Drs. Bendon Sanderson, Ray Lankester, and Mr. Hartley have also 
tested Dr. Bastian’s experiments, and found them wanting. 
In concluding this short and imperfect paper, I would here remark that 
the old doctrine ** Omne vivum ab ovo," appears to me to be the only one 
scientifically tenable. 
P.S.—On tube No. 8 being opened, no organisms were found, and the 
odour of the solution resembled fresh hay, so forming a marked contrast to 
the other tubes, which had a very stale musty smell. 
