REVIEWS. 781 
myself ascertained, if one takes healthy-looking epithelial scales 
scraped from the inside of the mouth, which appear to contain 
nothing but the finest granules, and places them with a little saliva 
in a‘live box’ (and this within a damp chamber kept at a tempera- 
ture of about. 90° Fahr.), in the course of from five to ten hours, 
the cells may be found to be studded throughout with motionless 
Bacteria.” 
The origin, in the third place, of Bacteria and Torule by Ar- 
chebiosis is supported by evidence, in the author's opinion, sharply 
defined and conclusive. 
“ Simple experiments can be had recourse to, which are not ad- 
missible in the discussion of the question as to the origin of Bac- 
teria and Torulæ by Heterogenesis. Thus, we wish to establish 
the fact that living matter is capable of undergoing a certain 
metamorphosis, and consequently, we must deal with living matter. 
Here, however, with the view of establishing the fact that living 
matter can arise de novo, if we are able, shortly after beginning 
have been killed—we may feel pretty sure that any living organ- 
isms which are subsequently found, when the vessel is broken, 
must have originated from some re-arrangements which had taken 
place amongst the not-living constituents of the experimental so- 
lutions, whereby life-initiating combinations had been formed.” 
The possibility of this mode of spontaneous generation is ‘*in- 
timately associated with the doctrine as to the cause of fermen- 
tation and putrefaction. Bastian espouses Liebig’s theory of the 
cause of fermentation, i. e., by sets of chemical changes, against 
Pasteur’s, who believes that fermentative changes are begun by the 
influence of living organisms. 
He also attacks the theory that the atmosphere is laden with 
the germs of Bacteria and Torule, and thinks that if they do 
have germs, they must be microscopically invisible to us. He 
then gives the results of a series of experiments which ‘‘ seem to 
show quite conclusively that M. Pasteur’s explanations are alto- 
gether inadequate to account for the occasional preservation of 
boiled fluids in bent-neck flasks.” They lend no countenance, 
moreover, to his particular theory, that fermentation cannot be 
initiated without the agency of living ferments, — they are, on 
the contrary, wholly opposed to this restriction. In conclusion 
our author remarks :— 5 
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