154 
molecules did not exist previously in the infusion ? Simply 
Tht were not seen in it ! The ultimate molecule has never 
been seen— some of these same molecules are barely visible, 
and yet, because, previous to a change by wto ch they ; appear 
they did not appear, therefore they did not exist ! Ihe into 
sion has had twelve hours to work m, and ^ ^ J 
gone on with its secret process and reached that sta e o^ p 
buildin o’ at which, its products become visible, the existence ol 
these very products previous to their being visible is denied ? 
absolutely uo evideu.e of tie «.u- 
existence of the molecules— there is clear and positive evidence 
that the process in which they appear is one of e - 
lare-ement They come into view one aftei another, ana 
increase in size when they have appeared It is hot imagme j 
+baf thev do so by coming nearer to the eye, or bettei into 
focus, and it can only be by ^enlargement Logy leads 
ns to interpret the facts as those which indicate that the germ 
of these vFbrios are small enough to elude the highest mag- 
nifying powers yet employed. The effect of a spermatozoid 
on the molecules of the volk of an egg is identical with the 
effect produced on the molecules in the film on the surface of 
Fn infusfon There is not the very slightest evidence that 
i-i l vmcpn-n there are not spermatozoids affecting the 
S&w— »<“■ “ ■“ 
Vib 15 ° Dr. Allen Thomson says that « most physiologists are 
inclined to reject as fanciful and inaccurate the alleged, obs - 
vations of the actual conversion of parti ojgamzed oi 
oro-anic matter into living infusoria. * This is a part oi 
field in which it would be presumptive for me to judge, but it 
is not necessary to do so. Taking the “ obser ^ l0 “; f tlie 
have done, from one of the very stanchest advocates of the 
notion of life springing from that in which there is no life, it 
Fs not difficult to see^ that, if the observations are ever so 
correct the reasoning from these observations is utterly g ' 
16 How far then does this effort to refute the doctrine 
that “all life comes from life,” tend to enlighten us as to the 
treat problem of life itself? It carries us in, we shall say 
from the self-moving force observed in the large animal t 
that force seen in the self-moving molecule; does it then 
modify in any degree our idea of the self-moving faculty itselfo 
Has the'mforoscope, by enabling ns to see molecules forming 
fhemselves into vibrios, brought us any nearer to an answer to 
* Cyclopedia of Anatomy and Physiology, voL v. p. 10. 1859. 
