158 
PROFESSOR TYNDALL ON THE DEPORTMENT AND VITAL 
strict imitation of that prepared on the 3rd ; it was of the same specific gravity, it 
was alkaline to the same degree, and it was introduced in the same manner into a 
chamber of three tubes ; hut whereas the infusion of the 3rd remained intact for 
months, and would have remained so indefinitely, a week had not elapsed before every 
tube of this new infusion was turbid and covered with fatty scum. 
§ 6 . Desiccation of Germs. New hay and old. 
In his work entitled c Evolution, and the Origin of Life,’ Dr. Bastian affirms, with 
repeated emphasis, that living matter is unable to maintain its life when exposed to a 
temperature even below that of boiling water. He refers to the scalding of the hand and 
other destructive effects, and also to the action of boiling water on eggs. He also refers 
to the experiments of Spallanzani on seeds, and extends the results observed with living 
matter of these special kinds to living matter generally. “ It has been shown,” he 
writes*, “ and is believed by the great majority of biologists, that the briefest exposure 
to the influence of boiling water (212° F.) is destructive of all living matter.” But 
scientific literature is not without examples which invalidate the inference drawn by Dr. 
Bastian from his special illustrations. 
More than ten years ago an extremely significant observation directly bearing upon this 
subject was made by the wool-staplers of Elbceuf in France. They were accustomed to 
receive dirty fleeces from Brazil, and among other matters entangled in the wool were the 
seeds of a certain plant called Medicago. It had been repeatedly found by the wool-cleaners 
that these seeds sometimes germinated after a period of four hours’ boiling. The late M. 
Pouchet repeated the experiment. He collected the seeds, boiled them for four hours, 
and sowed them afterwards in proper earth. To his astonishment they proved fruitful. 
He then closely examined the boiled seeds, and found the great majority of them 
swollen and disorganized ; but amongst these ruined seeds he observed others which 
had refused to imbibe the water or to swell or break up in any way. These he care- 
fully picked out, and sowed them and their neighbours separately in the same kind of 
earth. The swollen seeds were incapable of germination, while the unaltered ones 
rapidly gave birth to a crop. This was the only instance of such resistance known to 
Pouchet when he communicated the fact to the Paris Academy of Sciences. 
The observation here described stands recorded in the ‘ Comptes Bendus’ for 1866, 
vol. lxiii. p. 939, and it subverts the arguments founded by Dr. Bastian on the par- 
ticular cases which he has adduced. It is not difficult, indeed, to see that the surface 
of a seed or germ may be so affected by desiccation and other causes as practically to 
prevent contact between it and a surrounding^liquid f . The body of a germ, moreover, 
may be so indurated by time and dryness as to resist powerfully the insinuation of water 
* c Evolution,’ p. 46. 
t In this connexion a remark of Dr. Roberts regarding the resistance of chopped green vegetables merits 
quotation. “ The singular resistance of green vegetables to sterilization appears to be due to some peculiarity 
of the surface, perhaps their smooth glistening epidermis, which prevented complete wetting of their surfaces.” 
