136 THE DESTRUCTIVE INFLUENCE, OF 
suffices to kill any living particles which may act as 
so-called ‘germs of disease.’ This is a subject upon 
which there should be no room for doubt. Again, 
from a purely scientific point of view, the question is 
of equal cogency because of its bearing upon one of 
the most momentous problems in biological science— 
namely, that of the Origin of Life. It is on this 
latter account, more especially, that I now take up the 
inquiry as to the grade or degree of heat which proves 
destructive to different kinds of living matter. 
A preliminary word of explanation, therefore, must 
be given concerning the bearings of this question 
upon the Origin of Life problem. 
It is at present very generally admitted, upon the 
strength of well-known .experiments, that living 
matter will appear and grow rapidly in hermetically 
sealed flasks containing certain fluids after the flasks 
and their contents have been thoroughly raised to the 
temperature of boiling water for ten minutes or more. 
These experiments we may mentally label as Series 
A. Other experiments, which we may similarly label 
Series B, had also shown that a brief exposure in the 
moist state to a temperature considerably below the 
boiling point of water, is destructive to all kinds of 
living matter submitted to its influence. The experi- 
ments of Series A, therefore, taken in conjunction with 
those of Series B, must (if the latter results are as 
