Ms 
: M. Edwards on Spontaneous Generation. 403 
| ; 
It does not pertain to me to pronounce on the origin of mi- 
croscopic plants, for this difficult subject must be left to botanists. 
But as regards animals, I do not hesitate to say that the experi- 
mental conditions required to prove the truth of spontaneous 
—" have not been realized by any of the predecessors of 
. Pouchet. And are the researches of this naturalist, that 
have recently been communicated to the Academy, free from 
the objections which are made against earlier experiments? I 
believe not: and before mentioning some observations I have 
had occasion to make on this subject, I will briefly state the rea- 
sons that lead me to this conclusion. 
_ Ido not question the facts stated by Mr. Pouchet. The point 
i; Have these facts the significance attributed to them? I be- 
lieve not. His experiment is briefly as follows. After having 
ed some water and kept the liquid from contact with the air, 
he puts it into contact with pure oxygen, and introduces a cer- 
lain quantity of hay, which had been previously enclosed in a 
“sk and heated for a half hour in a stove whose heat was car- 
Tied up to 100° ©. or to the boiling point of water. The infusion 
thus prepared was hermetically sealed, and after some days Mr. 
e. 
In the first place, was the ha ishouah enclosed in a flask 
and kept thirty minutes in a pis at 100° C. (212° F.), fea 
as this; it appears to me probable that the hay, enclosed in a 
glass vesse] ee dersouised be air in repose, both substances bad 
‘onductors of heat, was in reality heated but little by the heat 
of the Stove during the short time it was expose 1 It. 
But Supposing that the hay was heated up to 100° C., can we 
then conclude that the germs had lost their vitality and were inea- 
Ree er development? No, for there is an important distinction 
€s which contain water and on those which are in the dry 
State. This the researches, already old, of 
reg Pas, eet ppc Bed “Althouglt in ordinary cir- 
“anistances death takes place when animals are ex a 
* See page 253 of this volume, 
