1 87 1.] The Theory of Atmospheric Germs. 163 



Let us, in the first place, accept as proved, by the results 

 of the experiments, that living forms have been discovered 

 after the subjection of the fluid containing them to a tem- 

 perature of 307*4° F. 



The affirmative proposition necessary to establish the 

 heterogeneous evolution of these organisms is that no living 

 thing can in any state and under any conditions withstand 

 a temperature of 307*4° F., without annihilation of its vitality. 



It is probable that this would, according to their pre- 

 conceived notions of the properties of living bodies, be at first 

 sight adopted by most people. 



It is difficult, a priori, to believe that living matter could 

 resist such a seemingly powerful cause of destruction ; but 

 it behoves us to consider the subject, not solely according to 

 our preconceived ideas, but to inquire as to the properties 

 and the behaviour of living matter from observation below 

 the surface of ordinarily visible nature. And here we 

 find many seeming paradoxes : we find that it possesses 

 powers of persistence and of resistance, which would 

 certainly, a priori, appear impossible. 



First, as to persistence. We know that vitality may 

 lie dormant for a period which is almost inconceivable. 

 Stramonium seeds, according to Duhamel, can develop 

 after remaining twenty-five years under ground. Friewald 

 observed the germination of melon seeds after they had 

 been kept more than forty years. Pliny asserted that 

 corn grew after it had been kept 100 years. Desmoulins 

 obtained plants from seeds found in a Roman tomb of the 

 third or fourth century. Finally, it is well known that corn 

 found in some of the tombs of ancient Egypt has ger- 

 minated and grown to perfection, and that a squill-bulb, 

 found in the hands of a mummy has, when planted in this 

 age, and in this country, grown and blossomed. In these 

 cases it can scarcely be questioned that, remarkable as 

 it may seem, the vitality (or term it what we will) of the 

 various germs has slumbered during the protracted periods 

 indicated. 



The proposition that there have been in these cases 

 actual death and subsequent reviviscence cannot be seriously 

 sustained, least of all by those who uphold the heterogeneous 

 evolution of living things according to definite and pro- 

 gressive stages by which the identical original form could 

 only by a miracle be obtained. Concerning lowly-endowed 

 organisms, Claude Bernard taught that " infusoria carefully 

 dried lose all vital property, at least in appearance, and 

 can remain thus for whole years ; but when water is restored 



