152 



Mr. W. N. Hartley on the 



[Feb. 8, 



tional quantity was added from tube F" 3 ; and on August 25th it had be- 

 come filled with white matter, consisting of chain-like bodies, most pro- 

 bably motionless Spirilla. 



It may doubtless appear to some that my particular mode of experi- 

 menting involves the introduction of needless complications, that others have 

 obtained the same results without the use of such apparatus ; but the in- 

 correctness of this will be admitted when I say that I was not wholly pre- 

 pared for such a result, and the necessity of being guarded, of being safe, 

 indeed, from every possibility of error, is absolute. Had living things been 

 discovered, that the experimental method and apparatus was a matter of 

 the first importance would have been evident, inasmuch as it excluded all 

 possibility of atmospheric contamination of the experimental liquids during 

 examination. In a word, it was necessary to be prepared for any result, 

 and be guarded on every side. The foregoing description records all the 

 experiments I have made with the view of obtaining the information I 

 sought. It will be noticed that the evidence afforded is perfectly con- 

 cordant. 



The appearances described in Exp. 20*, by Dr. Bastian, are, with the 

 exception of the fungus-spores and bicellular bodies, exactly what one 

 sees in silica. Having ascertained the fact that phosphate of soda, and 

 especially when not neutralized with acid, attacks glass tubes at a tempe- 

 rature of 150° C, and as in this case sodic phosphate and ammonic carbo- 

 nate were heated for four hours at 146° C. to 153° C, I examined the 

 silica deposited from my own tubes, and observed the gelatinous matter 

 resembling such to be met with in solutions containing infusoria : there 

 were two or three transparent spherules also which I believe to be water 

 enclosed in silica j they are often seen in pectized silica. As for the 

 matter becoming stained by magenta, that is no evidence of its nature, this 

 property being shared by silica*}*. It may further be remarked that magenta 

 would be precipitated on addition to such a solution by the alkaline phos- 

 phate and carbonate : those parts more deeply stained than the others 

 would be those where rosaniline was precipitated ; it would be impossible 

 to use a salt of rosaniline for the purpose successfully. The nature of the 

 solution, too, is such that no life will appear in it, ever, on exposure to the 

 air. An alkaline solution of phosphate of soda and an ammonia salt was 

 kept ten months open to the air, yet no change took place, while several 

 other portions were kept for a shorter period at a temperature of 24° to 

 34° C. with a like result. 



Dr. Bastian considers he has established by experiment the theory that 

 living organisms, amongst which are vibriones and fungi of the genera 

 Mucor, Penicillium, and Torida, and algae, such as conferva, are evolved de 

 novo from lifeless matter ; he brings together a number of reasons, of a more 

 or less decided kind, to show not only why it should be an intelligible 



* 4 Nature,' vol. ii. p. 200. 

 t Journal of the Chem. Boo, vol. ix. p. 452, 



