1877.] 



the Germinal Particles of Bacteria. 



425 



such liquids the action of prolonged exposure and that of increased 

 temperature may be regarded as complementary to each other, he proceeds 

 to relate his own researches, the purpose of which was rather to fill up 

 defects in the evidence than to establish new conclusions. 



The flasks employed were capable of containing 100 cub. centims. 

 (3| oz.); they were charged in the usual way with the turnip-cheese 

 liquid, and exposed for short periods in chloride of calcium baths, 

 of which the temperatures were carefully adjusted so as to obtain the 

 requisite temperatures. It was thereby definitely proved that whereas 

 the germinal matter of Bacteria can stand a temperature of 100° for fiye 

 or ten minutes it is destroyed by temperatures varying from 105° to 

 110°*. 



In an appendix to my first paper, published in ' Nature ' in the autumn 

 of 1873, I showed that the solutions of diffusible proteids and carbo- 

 hydrates employed by Prof. Huizmga, of Groningen, in the first of 

 the valuable series of experiments t published by him, relatiug to the 

 subject of spontaneous generation, require a temperature above that of 

 ebullition under ordinary pressure to sterilize them. This observation 

 has since been established by Prof. Huizinga himself on the basis of very 

 carefully made experiments t, by which he has proved at the same time 



* " Es folgt aus den eben angegebenen Tersucben, nach meiner Meinung, dass in 

 Huizinga's Gemengen die Bacterien einer Temperatur von 100° 5-10 Minuten lang zu 

 widerstehen verruogen, nicht aber einer von 105°-110° in eingeschmolzenem Glas- 

 robre wahrend der narnlichen Zeit " (loc. ext. p. 167). Here the autbor clearly fails to 

 make the necessary distinction between Bacteria (which, as is well known, lose their 

 vitality at a much lower temperature) and the material out of which they spring. 

 The mixtures referred to were either the cheese and turnip liquid or solutions con- 

 taining peptones and grape-sugar, to be immediately referred to. As affording an elegant 

 demonstration that in the turnip-cheese liquid it is the cheese and not any other con- 

 stituent which contains the resistant element, the following form of experiment is 

 worthy of notice : — A tube, A, drawn out and closed at both ends, is fused into the open 

 mouth of a second tube, B, of which the opposite end is drawn out and closed in a 

 similar manner. In this way a compound tube is formed which is divided by a coni- 

 cal septum into two chambers. A and B. A small knob of glass haying been previously 

 introduced into the chamber B, the septum can be easily broken by shaking the tube. 

 "With tubes so prepared two experiments are made. In Experiment 1, compartment 

 A is charged with infusion of cheese, sealed, and then exposed to a temperature of 

 110° before it is united to the compartment B. In like manner B is charged with 

 neutral decoction of turnip, so that when the compound tube is complete it contains 

 cheese in one compartment, turnip in the other. If, after boiling for ten minutes, it 

 is placed in the warm chamber its contents remain barren. In Experiment 2 the 

 experiment is varied by simply omitting the preliminary heating of A. The compound 

 tube is boiled as before, but now its contents promptly give evidence that the condi- 

 tions are present for an abundant development of Bacteria. 



f Prof. Huizinga's papers on the question of Abiogenesis are four in number. The 

 references are as follows : — Pfliiger's Archiv, vol. vii. p. 225 ; vol. viii. pp. 180, 551 ; 

 vol. x. p. 62. 



I The solution employed in these experiments was neutral and contained, in addi- 

 tion to the requisite inorganic salts, 2 per cent, of grape-sugar, 0*3 per cent, of soluble 

 VOL. XXVI. 2 H 



