~^. 



in a 



ccordaDCf 



•^^y compatiblt 



5e which fc 



it 



ons for various 

 l read M, h 

 \ and develof- 

 line solutions', 

 jbject of mod 

 lence could 

 might even b« 

 lilar charactet. 



\ 



veryg 



reat i^' 



employ 



ineD 



I 



ed by certa'" 

 saline inate' 



ijured bf 



rs 



oives 

 ,\Vbeth 



to 

 er 



l)£ ; 



THi: BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



363 



rated in pre-existing organisms, is, at present, absolutely 

 necessary for the de novo origination of living things • 

 or whether, in fact, these may arise, more or Jess 

 directly, by changes taking place in an aggregation of 



r 



new-formed molecules of an organic type "^. 



At present^ however^ no special precautions have 

 been taken to ensure the purity of the chemical sub- 

 stances employed. These may, and sometimes did 

 undoubtedly contain organic impurities, so that the fol- 

 lowing experiments are simply quoted as instances in 

 which more or less acid fluids, containing at all events 

 a very large proportion of saline ingredients, have 

 proved productive of living organisms when treated in 

 the way already described. 



Series 3. — Saline Solutions having an acid reaction. 



Experiment I. A closed flask containing a solution 

 of ferric and ammonic citrate^ in distilled water (gr. x. 

 to Ij.) was opened 29 days after it had been hermetically 

 sealed. 



h 



A small amount of powder-like sediment had gra- 

 dually collected at the bottom of the flask, though there 

 was no general turbidity of the fluid. Before the flask 

 was opened it was ascertained that the vacuum was still 



as 



^ These having themselves arisen by the combination of some of the 

 dissociated elements of the saline substances employed. 



^ Some of the purest that could be obtained, from Messrs. Hopkin 

 and Williams. 



