AND THE CAUSES OF FERMENTATION. 103 
compound has been heated to certain temperatures, 
there is the possibility that this process of putrefac- 
tion may have been induced (in spite of the death 
of the organisms and their germs) owing to the 
influence of 4, the dissolved organic matter of the 
inoculating compound; that is to say, the heat to 
which the mixture has been exposed may have 
been adequate to kill all the living units entering 
into the inoculating compound, although it may 
not have been sufficient to prevent its not-living 
organic matter acting as a ferment upon the 
infusion.* 
And there are, I think, the very best reasons for 
concluding that in all the cases in which turbidity 
has occurred after the organic mixtures have been 
subjected to a heat of 140° F. (60° C.) and upwards, 
this turbidity has been due, not to the survival of 
the living units, but rather to the fact that the 
mere dead organic matter of the inoculating com- 
pound has acted upon the more unstable organic 
infusions in a way which it was not able to do 
upon the boiled saline fluids. 
In order more fully to explain the grounds upon 
which this conclusion is based, it will now be 
necessary to recast the results of the 102 inocula- 
tion experiments recorded in my last communica- 
* See “The Beginnings of Life,” vol. ii., p. 2. 
