62 
rorULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
property of elongating and forming filaments. The one func- 
tion is subversive of the other. While, then, a cell or a vibrio 
may possess the property of growth and division, these two 
functions must be exercised at different periods of time — so 
that, in reference to the early stage of- formation, if the mole- 
cules divide, bacteria, vibrios, and filaments could not be formed. 
A mass of vibrionic molecules is not a compound organism ; it 
is a mere aggregation of similar simple elements. Each of these 
in passing through certain phases of development may be 
arrested, or reach maturity at various periods, so that we fre- 
quently see different forms present at one time ; but that the 
same forms and the same stages of growth should exhibit di- 
rectly opposite functions, is surely not in accordance with phy- 
siological knowledge. 
The conclusion we must arrive at therefore is, that the mole- 
cules seen on the surface of infusions out of which animalcules 
and fungi are produced, are not derived from the air. 
Neither can they be supposed to pre-exist in the fluid, as 
then they would be readily seen, which they never are at the 
commencement. On this point nothing can be clearer than 
the microscopical evidence, so that it results from the facts and 
arguments which have been stated, that the more simple in- 
fusoria do not originate from cells or minute germs at all, 
whether in the atmosphere or in the fluid. This is the almost 
universal conviction of histologists who have carefully investi- 
gated the matter. 
Again, it is almost universally considered that the heat of 
boiling water or cold at zero will destroy all kinds of animal 
and vegetable life. Indeed, to imagine that the minute mole- 
cules or vibrios of which we have been speaking, or small ova 
and sporules consisting of oleo-albuminous matter without any 
envelope, would remain in boiling water for hours and retain 
their vitality, must be regarded as a violent assumption. Three 
or four- minutes’ boiling of a hen’s egg not only kills it, but 
converts its whole substance into a hard mass. There is no 
see<l known, which, when taken out of its indurated shell or case, 
is cii[)able of germinating after being boiled for a short timtt* 
Yet nothing is more certain than that long ebullition of various 
infusions has wholly failed to prevent the formation in them of 
animal and vegetalde growths. 
Pouchet and others have frequently performed the following 
exj>crirnent : An open fhisk was plunged into and filled with a 
• See some conclusive experiments recently performed on this subject by 
Meunier. “ Comptes-Itendus,” tomelxii. p. See filso Pouchet’s ^‘Ex- 
p<,*rimentH on the Seeds of Medicago from Brazil.” Coinptes-Kendus,” 
tome Ixii. p. 041. 
