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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
of the magnetic needle, et hoc genus omne. Altogether, the work is one 
which, for an anonymous contribution, we have to speak of in terms of high 
praise. We commend it to the consideration of our physical readers. It 
is well worthy their perusal. 
ON SPONTANEOUS GENERATION.* 
W E had almost thought that defenders of spontaneous generation were 
extinct. Of course we always except M. Pouchet, of France ; but of 
late years he has done so little in this direction that he almost may be con- 
sidered to have given up the battle, not convinced, of course, of the error of 
his ways, but believing rather in the unwisdom of his opponents, and espe- 
cially of M. Pasteur. But during the past two or three years an English 
champion for this peculiar doctrine has sprung up, and, so far as we can see, 
he is a more formidable supporter of the doctrine than even M. Pouchet 
himself. It is necessary in cases of controversy on a scientific subject to 
look to the men holding the opposite sides ; and when we do so in this in- 
stance, we see a formidable array of authorities going in against the author 
of the present volume. For example, we have in the first ranks of oppo- 
nents Professor Huxley, who goes in strongly and determinately against the 
doctrine. Yet, strange to say, Professor Huxley would be, we should think, 
one of the first to admit that this process must have been at one time a dis- 
tinct operation ; for it is only by it that men of his school can suppose the 
origin of organic beings on the earth, unless indeed they take Professor Sir 
W. Thompson’s rather singular aerolitic theory into consideration — an 
hypothesis which, after all, only pushes the difficulty back a little farther 
than it was before. Well, then, we have Professor Huxley distinctly in 
opposition to the doctrine ; and this alone is very seriously against it, for 
Professor Huxley is not one who takes up an hypothesis without due con- 
sideration. If he has gone in against spontaneous generation, it is only after 
giving mature consideration to those experiments which have been recorded 
in its favour. He is, therefore, a tremendous opponent. Still, we must 
remember, on the other side is Professor Owen, who in his last volume goes 
in strongly and decidedly in favour of spontaneous generation. Between 
two such opponents, what is one to do ? Clearly, authority is of no mo- 
ment ; for if Professor Huxley does not believe without careful investiga- 
tion, surely we cannot accuse Professor Owen, the greatest worker in com- 
parative anatomy which the world has ever produced, of carelessness or 
want of consideration in the belief which he so strenuously expresses. 
But really it is almost impossible to decide the question at the present 
moment. And we think that before further investigations are made, it 
would be well to have some researches exactly carried out into the tempe- 
rature which some of the lowest organisms will tolerate without perish- 
* u The Modes of Origin of Lowest Organisms ; including a Discussion of 
the Experiments of M. Pasteur, and a Reply to some Statements of Professors 
Huxley and Tyndall.” By H. Charlton Bastian, M.A., M.D., F.R.S. 
London : Macmillan & Co., 1871. _ 
