EASTERN COUNTIES VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 377 
in a measure indestructible, they can live in and resist a higher 
temperature than would suffice to destroy developed organisms. 
These germs then may be likened to the acorn which when placed 
in and surrounded by favorable media ultimately becomes the 
stately oak. In following out these inquiries we are not pursu¬ 
ing an ignis fatuus; there is no delusion, not a shadow of doubt 
about it. The practical point is this, though air, as air, is pure 
and innocuous, unfortunately, it ever contains suspended in it 
organic dust particles and germs which, if brought into contact 
with an infusion, or moist vegetable or animal matter of suitable 
temperature, such infusion immediately becomes turbid and 
swarms with living organisms called Bacteria. It is assumed that 
500,000,000 of these organisms exist in a drop of stagnant water. 
It is proved conclusively that this life-giving principle is 
altogether distinct from the oxygen or any of the other con¬ 
stituents of the air; it is an essential condition that there must be 
living germs, or no living organisms can possibly be produced, 
there is no known atmosphere entirely free ; in some localities they 
abound to a greater degree than in other localities, and whenever 
they come into contact with dead animal or vegetable matter in 
a fluid or semifluid form, for which they seem to have a strong 
affinity, almost instantly it is perceived that low organisms begin 
to exist. 
In order to give a clear light on this subject, it must be borne 
in mind that atmospheric air consists of oxygen and nitrogen, 
carbonic acid and aqueous vapour, in definite proportions. The 
atomic theory shows that these proportions must of necessity 
be exact or it would cease to be atmospheric air. I am not pre¬ 
pared to say that under no circumstances can it be possible for an 
excess of some of the constituents to exist; this air presses with 
a pressure of fifteen pounds upon every square inch of surface. 
We know it is a mixture, it obeys the law of diffusion of gases, 
that is, the atoms are mechanically held together and move upon 
each other with such facility that anything can permeate it, a 
bird can fly through it, rain can pass through it, mist and fogs 
can be suspended in it; it would appear that the germs are re¬ 
tained in a state of suspension in the interstices between the 
atoms of the air, this is proved in a variety of ways. Professor 
Tyndal has experimented in every possible way for the last two 
years with nearly ten thousand flasks filled with various infusions, 
he was determined to recognise nothing that was not tested over 
and over again with undeviating accuracy ; he found when he 
exposed some of these infusions to the atmospheric air in some 
localities that the infusions retained their transparency, and not 
a semblance of life took place in them though they were “exposed” 
for weeks and months, whereas other flasks of the same infusions 
were exposed to the atmospheric air in other localities they 
became turbid, and in two days they were swarming with bacte¬ 
rial life. There was no doubt or uncertainty about these results. 
The conclusion was absolute and imperative that it was not 
