1871.] 



on Protoplasmic Life. 



475 



Putrid-Meat Fluid.- — Water was placed in an open vessel, and a piece 

 of meat suspended in it until it became putrid and contaminated with 

 myriads of animalcules. This fluid was placed in the usual tubes, which 

 were sealed on the 7th of November, and heated on the same day. 



The contents of the tubes were subjected to examination on the 1st of 

 December, or twenty-four days after having been heated. 



Not heated. 



Heated for 

 half an hour at 

 100° F. 



Heated for 

 half an hour at 

 212° F. 



Heated for 

 half an hour at 

 300° F. 



Heated for 

 half an hour 

 at 400° F. 



Heated for 

 half an hour 

 at 500° F. 



A large quan- 

 tity of life was 

 present, name- 

 ly, microzyma 

 and several di- 

 stinct species of 

 vibrios, among 

 which were a 

 number of the 

 small black ones 

 frequently men- 

 tioned. 



This tempera- 

 ture had but 

 slightly affected 

 the life present, 

 the animalcules 

 being as nume- 

 rous as in the 

 liquid not heat- 

 ed, and moving 

 as usual. How- 

 ever, one spe- 

 cies of very 

 long vibrios ap- 

 peared to be 

 considerably af- 

 fected, as they 

 were much m ore 

 languid in their 

 movements. 



This liquor dif- 

 fered from all 

 the others in 

 being turbid 

 and coagulated. 

 Life was still 

 present; and al- 

 though heat had 

 deprived the 

 animalcules of 

 the power of lo- 

 comotion, still 

 they retained 

 a sufficient a- 

 mount of vital 

 force to place 

 it beyond a 

 doubt that life 

 was not de- 

 stroyed. 



The liquid was 

 quite clear, the 

 albumen(which 

 is coagulated at 

 200°) appear- 

 ing to be redis- 

 solved. A large 

 quantity of the 

 life in the fluid 

 was destroyed, 

 but some vi- 

 brios still re- 

 mained, the 

 small black ones 

 being the most 

 numerous. 



All life 

 had dis- 

 appeared. 



All life 

 had dis- 

 appeared. 



The results recorded in the above Tables show that protoplasmic life is 

 but slightly affected by a temperature of 212° F., and that, even at a tem- 

 perature of 300° F., it is not entirely destroyed, excepting in the case of 

 gelatine. In all the other fluids a temperature of 400° F. is necessary to 

 completely destroy the life. These experiments, therefore, clearly show 

 that the life found by previous experimenters in fluids which have been 

 submitted to heat was not due to heterogenesis, but to life which had re- 

 mained in the fluids, as I have seen no experiment reported where the 

 temperature to which the fluids were exposed exceeded 300° F.* 



I am the more justified in making this statement, as I have repeatedly ex- 

 amined the contents of tubes which had been submitted to a temperature 

 of 400° F., both immediately after cooling and at all periods up to thirty 

 days, and was unable in any instance to detect the slightest trace of life. 



This important result corroborates those recorded in my previous paper,, 

 and proves that the spontaneous-generation theory is not yet by any means 

 established. 



* It is with pleasure that I find these experiments to confirm the suggestion of Dr. 

 Beale, in his work entitled " Disease-Germs, their supposed Origin," page 50 (which I 

 read a few weeks ago), that " living forms might live though exposed, under certain 

 conditions, to a temperature of 350° F." 



