142 THE DESTRUCTIVE INFLUENCE OF 
imaginary pofes in the glass. At the first glance 
these seemed, as he says, “ deux suppositions égale- 
ment impossibles, ou du moins trés difficiles 4 conce- 
voir.” For very excellent reasons, not difficult for 
the reader to imagine, the Abbé then points out that 
the latter hypothesis, at all events, is entirely unte- 
nable. The question thus became one of the simplest 
description. If no good reason could be found in 
support of the seemingly improbable supposition that 
the experimental results referred to were to be ac- 
counted for by a survival of germs, then, as he 
confessed, he must admit the fact of an independent 
and germless origin of living things. Whilst, if on the 
other hand, it should appear probable that germs or 
reproductive particles of living things could survive 
the influence of such a prolonged immersion in boiling 
fluids, he would not feel at all bound (on the strength 
of his previous experiments) to believe in the indepen- 
dent origin of living matter. This simple issue was 
fully realized by Spallanzani, and acting in accordance 
with the most obvious of scientific principles, he care- 
fully sought for fresh evidence by means of well- 
directed experiments, in order to guide him towards 
a conclusion as to whether germs of living things 
could or could not have resisted the action of boiling 
water for more than half an hour. 
He appreached the question in the following 
