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 : 

 " A 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 

 carbolic 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 

 carbolic acid as the aio^ 1 P ar ^ 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 tbe 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 cbeese, might easily escape the boiling point. 



With regard to Bastian's experiments Dr. Boberts 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, Bay 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 ah ovo," appears to me to be the only one 

 scientifically tenable. 



P.S. — On tube No. 3 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, 



