398 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



in favour of conclusions based upon evidence which is 

 comparatively worthless : and, by such illogical methods, 

 M. Pasteur proclaims that he has 'mathematically 



demonstrated' the truth of his own views. 



Un- 



fortunately for the cause of truth, many have been 

 only too much blinded by his skill and precision as a 

 mere experimenter. 



An attempt has been made to show the incon- 

 clusiveness of M. Pasteur's mode of reasoning on this 

 point, principally with the view of preventing similar 

 deductions being drawn from observations and experi- 



ments 



wise it would not have been at all necessary. 



Other- 

 For so 



M 



tion that Bacteria and their germs are not killed in 

 slightly alkaline or neutral fluids raised to a temperature 

 of !3i3°F, we have found that experiment and observa- 

 tion alike seem to show that they are killed when 

 such fluids are raised for two or three minutes to a 

 temperature of 140° F. Nay, more, taking M. Pasteur 

 even upon his own gi'ound — using boiled acid infusions, 

 in which he admits that all germs of preexisting life 

 are killed — we find, nevertheless, as others have 

 found, that such infusions, contained within heated 

 and hermetically-sealed flasks, will speedily become 

 turbid, owing to the presence of multitudes of living 



organisms. 



There being no valid reasons, therefore, for our belief 

 in the assumption that 'Bacteria^ ViMones, and their 



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