138 THE DESTRUCTIVE INFLUENCE OF 
make careful investigations in this direction, and 
arrive at the conclusion; that not only was the old 
opinion right as to the destructive action of boiling 
water, but that living matter unaccustomed to the 
influence of heat is killed. by a brief exposure even 
to the much lower temperatnre of 140° F. 
Such being the present aspect of the problem, 
those most interested in it may remember that know- 
ledge would not advance in the rapid way which it does, 
were it not for the fact that the difficulties of one 
generation of menioften disappear before the clearer, 
because more unprejudiced, vision of the next. Grow- 
ing gradually more.familiarized with the facts, those 
who come after us will be more and more influenced 
by them, and at the same time less warped by theo- 
retical considerations already out. of harmony with 
our present state of knowledge: I.may perhaps be 
allowed to use the words-of Mr. Darwin and say with 
him: “I look with: confidence to the future,—to 
young and rising naturalists, who will be able to view 
both sides of the question with impartiality.” We 
are now in a state of transition. We are gradually 
learning to accept the:doctrines of Evolution, as ap- 
plicable to different departments of knowledge, though, 
as is so frequently the.case when new doctrines are 
being adopted, the transition is effected by many in 
a partial manner—they, unconsciously, perhaps, en- 
