* 



///■ 



r 



326 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



the 



pre- 



solution, were deprived of their virtues 

 liminary boiling. These experiments also seemed to 

 show that such solutions, after having been boiled, and 

 shut up in hermetically-sealed flasks from which all 

 air had been expelled, were quite incapable of giving 

 birth to Bacteria. The unboiled fluid, exposed to the. 

 air, must have become turbid, either merely because 

 it was capable of nourishing living Bacteria which it 

 contained, or else because it was capable of evolving 



+ 



these de novo^ under the influence of fermentative 

 particles whose activity had not been destroyed by heat. 

 Hence, in such a solution we have a fluid which is 

 eminently suitable for testing the vital resistance of 

 Bacteria^ — one which, although quite capable of nourish- 

 ing and favouring their reproduction^ does not appear 

 capable of evolving them, when, after previous ebulli- 

 tion, it is enclosed in airless and hermetically-sealed 



flasks. 



Three flasks were, therefore, half filled with this 



solution 1. The neck of the first [a) was allowed to 

 remain open, and no addition was made to the fluid. 

 To the second (^), after it had been boiled and had 

 become cool, was added half a minim of a similar 

 saline solution, which had been previously exposed to 

 the air, and which was quite turbid with Bacteria, 

 Vihrlones, and ToruU. From this flask— after its inocula- 

 tion with the living organisms — the air was exhausted 



1 In the proportion of ten grains of neutral amnionic tartrate, with 

 three grains of neutral sodic phosphate, to an ounce of distilled water. 



tic 





) 



teat 



of ^^'' 



inoculat 



were 



boi 



I J\^ ^tit as fol 



turbi( 





became 



i 



(Br 



the second [l>), 

 i that in th 

 , This latts 

 iy, whilst its con 



examinat 



to be found 



three tin 



'I 



gh on t\v 



'0 ( 



'we instead oft 



''s^fni^d, mor 



of the 

 is fatal to \ 



^ 



■ I 



accord i 



.^^'' Portions 



II 



% 



oft 



andtl 



^K 



^ece;; 



must 



■1 



f 



■!} 





01 

 in 



. 5 



Cn 



