732 Spontaneous Generation. [ December, 
ditions capable of causing the spontaneous origin of life, he is 
sure of the prompt adhesion of the systematic supporters. of his 
doctrine, and of raising a doubt in the minds of others, who have 
acquired only a superficial knowledge of the subject. This is the 
more the case when an author, like Dr. Bastian, occupies an im- 
portant position, has literary and dialectic talent, and brings for- 
ward conscientious researches. l 
During the twenty years he has worked at this question, M. Pas 
teur says he has not been able to discover any life not preceded 
by a similar life. The consequences of such a discovery would 
be incalculable. Natural sciences in general, medicine and phi- 
losophy in particular, would receive an impulse of which no one 
could foresee the consequences, and if any one succeedsin reaching 
such a result, he would welcome the happy investigator on his 
operations being proved. At present his attitude is one of defi- 
ance, as he has so often shown how readily able men make mis- 
takes in this difficult art of experimentation, and what danger 1s 
connected with the interpretation of facts. 
Let us see, he exclaims, whether Dr. Bastian has known how 
to escape these two rocks. He then cites the title of Dr. Bas- 
tian’s paper and his chief remarks, and adds that he hastens to 
declare that the experiments described would usually give the 
results that are stated, and that he need not have operated ata 
temperature of 50° C., as at 25° or 30°, and even lower, boiled 
urine rendered alkaline by potash in a pure atmosphere becomes 
filled with bacteria and other organisms.” If Tyndall, as Dr. 
Bastian says, thought this was not so, it must have been through 
forgetfulness. Dr. Bastian cannot be unaware that the experi- 
ments he has just communicated to the academy, or at least ex- 
periments of the same kind, were made by me, and published be 
a memoir in 1862, entitled On Organic Corpuscles which exist 
in the Atmosphere: an Examination of the Doctrine of Sponta- 
neous Generation. I demonstrated in this paper (pages 58, 66) 
that acid liquids which always become sterile by a few minutes 
exposure to 100° C. are made fecund if we communicate to them 
a slight alkalinity. The novelty introduced by Dr. Bastian ™ 
having recourse to a temperature of 50° C. is only apparent, since 
this condition is superfluous. There is, then, between us only a 
difference in the interpretation of facts common to both. Dr. 
Bastian says these facts prove spontaneous generation, and I sis 
ply, Not at all ; they only demonstrate that certain germs of 3m- 
ferior organisms resist a temperature of 100° C. in neutral an 
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