l/P£^ 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



21 



Particl, 



^xperin^. Diminution of pressure seems, however, to be a very 



^'"'''^t: the w • potential cause of change in som 



e 



fluids. The extent 



my cxp 



IS 



certained 



flucnces 



to which changes of a fermentative character can pro- 

 gress in the absence of atmospheric oxygen^ is also 

 evidently subject to much variation^ in accordance 

 with the nature of the dissolved fermentable sub- 



1 



with the doctrines of Baron 



stances. 



Thus,, in accordance 



I 



Liebig, my experiments^ as well as those of many other 

 F^ investigators, tend to show that fermentative and 



as it 



ch as are tlieit 



y counterbak 

 3wn that ^ 



meal actions^ putrefactive changes are merely processes of chemical 

 as^ so that it: rearrangement, which frequently take place 

 t, ^vhich otk were ^spontaneously^ — owing to the inherent insta- 

 icrease of pK bility of certain nitrogenous compounds in the presence 

 nay be expedt of free oxygen. My experiments have, however, also 

 ) that one can revealed the additional fact that, under the combined 

 obtained on influence of a moderate heat and diminished pressure, 



:h will not uoe 



influence 



some fluids will undergo fermentation even in closed 

 Qf at vessels, from which all air has been expelled. And, at 



T 

 O 



sained- 



the same time, they compel us to believe that the 



) at the 



^ 1 ^.p^; lowest organisms, when present, are often mere con 



increased p«' ___.^_^_^_^ ^ ^, ___. . .' ,_ . ._.. , 



such c 

 ds bein 



^., comitant products (some of which have arisen de novo\ 



a press: 



nat this 



IS 



; rather than invariable or necessary causes of the fer- 

 mentative changes. 



ds 



far ^^^ ^^ ammonic tartrate and sodic phosphate. The facts recorded by Dr. 



Sanderson (loc. cit., p. 54) as to its lack of influence over 'Pasteur's 

 solution,' is therefore quite what might have been expected. It v^as a 

 mistake to suppose that I considered diminution of pressure to be in- 

 ^ variably favourable to the occurrence of fermentable changes in all fluids 

 ^^ ' , capable of undergoing this change. 



t din*"*" i» ' 



