184 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
ON SPONTANEOUS GENERATION.* 
r ERE is perhaps no subject in the whole wide range of biological 
speculation on which so much has been written, so many eminent 
men have taken part in ardent controversy, or which has engaged scientific 
attention for so long a period as that of (the now somewhat disused term) 
spontaneous generation. We have had already two books on this most 
important process by Dr. Bastian, and now we have a third, which consists 
in great measure of a series of papers which have appeared during the past 
twelve months in the “ Contemporary Review ” and in the “ Proceedings of 
the Royal Society.” We have had to pronounce on the whole a somewhat 
unfavourable opinion upon the previous writings of this savant, and now 
we have to review the last evidence he has offered on this almost un- 
demonstrable proposition. Dr. Bastian has received many hard blows in 
this controversy, but he has taken them all easily ; and what is more to his 
credit, he does not appear anxious to return the blows. Indeed his book is 
written in the best possible temper, and that is saying a good deal con- 
sidering the nature of the struggle. We may state at the outset that it 
seems to us as if the author might have said everything new that he has 
got to urge in favour of the doctrine he has taken up in at the utmost 
twenty pages j yet his remarks extend to no less than 186 pp. This is to be 
regretted ; for many men thoroughly competent to judge of the evidence in 
favour or against his views will, we fear, throw the book down in wrath. 
However, it can't be helped, we suppose, and we must accept his arguments 
as they are given. But what, it may be inquired, has the author added to 
our knowledge of this subject ? And to this question we cannot answer 
very much. Indeed, it appears to us — who are thoroughly impartial 
critics — that the whole book, so far as anything new is concerned, is to be 
read in about a quarter of an hour, from p. 168 to p. 184. And what does 
this portion tell us ? Very little indeed. It shows us that two experiments 
were tried, in one of which “ a strong infusion of turnip was rendered 
faintly alkaline by liquor potassae,” and a few bits of muscular fibre of a 
cod were added. In the other “ a strong infusion of common cress, to 
which a few of the leaves and stalks of the plant were added,” was the 
substance experimented upon. In both of these experiments the liquid, with 
its contents was placed in a hermetically-sealed flask and heated on a digester 
to a temperature over 230° for an hour, and then kept at a temperature of 
70°-80° Eahr., in one case for eight, and in the other for nine weeks. Now 
what was the result? Dr. Bastian found that both fluids, which were 
rendered very slightly alkaline before boiling, had become decidedly acid, 
and that they contained a floculent deposit, which deposit was examined 
under a ~ inch immersion objective and gave results which are depicted in 
a plate forming the frontispiece of the volume. This plate shows bacteria, 
peculiar monad-looking bodies, and what Dr. Bastian considers to be 
“Torula corpuscles” and “Fungus spores.” Now, in the first place, we 
* 11 Evolution and the Origin of Life.” By H. Charlton Bastian, M. A., 
M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Pathological Anatomy in University College. 
London : Macmillan, 1874. 
