f)0 
POPULAR SCIENCE REYIETV. 
Tuscany, have been specially investigated.* The larynges and 
mucous pulmonary surfaces of numerous animals have been 
explored, even to the inmost bone cavities of birds. On the 
summit of Mont Blanc, amidst eternal snow ; on the glaciers of 
the Jura and of the Pyrenees, and in the deep crevasse ;f on 
the burning plains of Egypt, and in the markets of Constanti- 
nople, the dust of the atmosphere has been microscopically 
examined, and in all with a like negative result as to the 
existence of germs. Nowhere could they be seen, nor if a few, 
in the opinion of some, were visible, could they in any way 
account for the multitude of minute infusoria, which, in all 
these localities, not only readily spring up in putrid fluids, but 
in every instance are identically the same.| 
Indeed, on examining the drawings of M. Pasteur (see figs. 
6 to 9), let us suppose that the few bodies he has figured are 
truly sporules, as he believes them to be, which have preserved 
Fig. 11. 
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 
if? I o OO CID CJTZ) 
COGQQ^ 
Stages in the Development of Vibriones. 800 diameters linear. 
their form — after the action of ether, several soakings of tweLty- 
four hours each in water, the desiccation, and subsequent mix- 
ture with a weak solution of potash. How, it may be asked, 
could these bodies produce the incalculable millions of minute 
molecules in the smallest fragment of the pellicle we can transfer 
to our microscopes, in which, as we have seen, the infusoria ori- 
ginate ? It has been supposed that, on falling from the air, they 
undergo rapid division, and spread over the surface wuth the 
greatest rapidity ; but no one has ever seen this remarkable phe- 
nomenon, and the slightest consideration must show that such 
an assumption is completely adverse to what can be readily de- 
monstrated on the surface of every infusion. Thus, there can be 
no doubt that the minutest molecules are formed first, and the 
bacteria, vibrios, and filaments, last. Supposing that the primary 
molecules, figured No. 1, in Fig. 11, enlarge to a certain point. 
No. 2, and then divide, how is it possible to explain the forma- 
tion of elongated filaments at all ? Surely the idea of their 
rapid multiplication by division is opposed to that of their power 
of elongating into bacteria and vibrios, whether by aggregation 
• L. rjigot’s “ Dechorches exp^rimentales sur la Nature des Emanations 
Tnarerageuses.” Tari.s, 18/59. “ Reclierches sur FAir des Maremmes de la 
Tosoanc,” par M. E. Bcchi. “ Comptes-Kendus,” tome lii. p. 862. 
+ “ Comptes-Rendua,” tome Ivii. p. 668. 
X “ Nouvelles E.xpdiienccs,” p. 76. 
