67 
about in the air, every part whereof seems replete with 
seeds of one kind or other The whole atmosphere seems 
alive. There is everywhere acid to corrode and seed to 
engender. Iron will rust and mould will grow in all 
places.” 
No man has before or after him expressed this truth 
more completely and beautifully. It is hard to improve it 
by one word. Still, this age demands more detailed know- 
ledge and exact theory ; besides, the work of every few years 
requires to be done again to suit modern methods, although 
it must be confessed that there is room for the cynic to say 
that Bishop Berkeley and all the ancients and moderns 
might be classed with Topsy who think they have explained 
all by saying “ It grows.” 
I began to examine the air in 1846, and I brought a 
short notice before the Chemical Society : ‘ a simple mode 
of obtaining organic matter in the condensed breath on 
windows is recorded in their transactions. On account 
of this commencement, which promised favourably, the 
British Association requested me to report on the subject. 
My report, published in 1848, was considered to have 
made advance, and was marked out for special mention 
by the President of the succeeding year, so that the words 
were not hidden. I quote a part, “ That animals constantly 
give out a quantity of solid organic matter from the lungs, 
may readily be proved by breathing through a tube into a 
bottle, when the liquid or condensed breath will be collected 
at the bottom of the bottle ; or by breathing through a tube 
into water, when a solution of the same substance will be 
found in the water. This would scarcely require proof if 
we consider that breath so frequently has an organic smell.” 
“ If this condensed breath be put on a piece of platinum, 
or on a piece of white porcelain and burnt, the charcoal 
which remains and the smell of organic matter will be con- 
