//r^^ 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



II 



'^'^ found 



to the 



^Ppel^ 



alteration ; whilst 



a very strong 



infusion of turnip 



infusion to, 

 -^3 I have 



micros 



on 



of an 



cc 



%l% 



became turbid in five days, and ultimately showed a 

 large quantity of deposit '. , 



The results not being uniform, the explanation 

 offered by M. Pasteur and others, as to the cause of the 

 preservation of- the particular fluids with which they 

 experimented, is at once rendered doubtful. More espe- 

 cially is there room for doubt on this subject when the 

 result of the experiment can be predicated beforehand, 

 <ij and so als; within certain limits, as I have found, according to 

 ie with two-il the nature of the fluid employed. If the organisms 



in these experiments all proceed from pre-existing 

 "or ten minut( germs, which can be filtered from the air by a certain 



mechanical contrivance, then, if it be alleged that 



ilaments. 

 Lirnip-infusi 

 his kind 



10[ 



OWl 



li 



o feet long, 



g of cotton-i it is on account of such filtration that certain boiled 

 I depth oft« fluids do not change, all fluids placed under these 

 -eased in qw conditions ought, on this theory, to be similarly pre- 



on. 



Tmmedii served. Exceptional cases cannot be accounted for on 



plug 



rtion 

 ; ma 



of wool 



of the I 



terial to 



re# 



ches. 



)f urine 

 went no ^f 



,e„.s of **j 



this hypothesis. To others^ however^ who say that 

 organisms are capable of arising de novo^ and that 

 fermentation can be initiated without the agency of 

 living things^ the above facts appear quite natural. 

 They think that the more the nitrogenous or protein 

 materials contained in a solution are complex and 

 abundant^ the more is the solution fitted to undergo 



^ See Appendix C. p. xxxiii. These are the only experiments which 

 I have performed with the very long plugs of cotton-wool, though in 

 other previous trials with plugs about i|" long, I have several times 

 obtained positive results. ■ - . . ^ 



di^ C' 



