l//-^. 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIEE. 



15 



^^'^kc pla^. 



by the heat to which they had been subjected, so that 



e 



i^y afHr 



1 

 li 



niedt 



pi'eserve 



I 



no- 



t>3 



^vMlstof 



whether they underwent change or not^ may have 

 depended upon the accidental presence or absence of 

 suitable unheated organic fragments in the air ad- 



mitted to the fluid. If germs were as omnipresent as 



^^gifithey have been represented to be^ such fluids ought 



^^ former 



art 



always to have undergone change. 



Owing 



to facts 



heir owninlieof this nature, M. Pasteur ^ came to the conclusion 



s re 



S,u ire tot; that 'germs' are not so universally distributed as they 

 unstable subs'uhad been supposed to be by Bonnet and Spallanzani 2. 

 i;oing change' The unprejudiced inquirer, however, will perceive that 

 ion of thercM. Pasteur was entitled to come to no such conclusion 



r 



bent-neck Iconcerning germs which was not equally applicable to 

 ■csults obtain! minute fragments or debris of organic matter floating 

 free admissio:in the air. And, similarly, the evidence which he 



had 



adduces with resard to the diminution in the number 



. ^„,,,of the fertile flasks when they were filled with some of 



tues m somet j . , , 



itation a 



the still air of the caves of the observatory, or with the 

 jj(jtliesi!air of some high mountain regions 3, far away from the 

 the modes ofoihaunts of men, had no bearing upon the distribution of 

 ;ientificffastlie2^ggj.j^g which was not equally applicable to that of dead 

 followers ^vj^^^^^^^.^ P^''^^^^^^- ^"^^ evidence, therefore, was value- 

 ^ Tble flui<^^ '""^^^ss fo'' settling between the rival doctrines of ferment- 

 therefore li^*ation, and could not possibly help us to decide whether 

 , particles- ^^^^ living or dead ferments were necessary. Dead organic 

 1 only be r ^jp^^^i^^^gg would sink in still air in the same manner as 



^ ' Ann. de Chimie et de Physique,' 1862, p- 7^* 



Loc. cit., pp. 75 and 76. 



3 Loc. cit., pp. 83 and 84. 



me 



to 



