The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-18 00:00:00

SPONTANEOUS GENERATION OP
PLANTS AND INSECTS.

At the late sitting of the Academy of Sciences.
MM. Pouchet and Houzeau presented a curious
paper, in which they described certain experiments
of theirs for the purpose of ascertaining whether
animal life could be produced by mere chemical
agency. It is well known that the majority of
naturalists are of opinion that the spontaneous
generation of animals and plants under peculiar
chemical and physical circumstances is impossible,
and that MM. Schultze, Sehwann and others have
published experiments on the subject which have
hitherto appeared unanswerable. Nevertheless,
MM. Pouchet and Houzeau stated in their paper
that, having repeated the experiments of their pre-
decessors, they had constantly obtained affirmative
instead of negative results. As to their own ex-
periments, they describe the following :—A phial
having been filled with boiling water, then closely
stopped with the greatest precaution, was placed in
an inverted position in a mercury bath, then opened
under the mercury, when half a litre of pure oxygen
gas was introduced. Immediately afterwards a
small wisp of hay, weighing ten grammes, and just
taken out of a stove where it had been exposed for
half an hour to a heat of 100 degrees centigrade
(boiling point), was also introduced into the phial,
which was then hermetically closed and sealed.
Ten days afterwards it was reopened, and, it having
been ascertained that no atmospheric air had pene-
trated into the interior. the contents were examined,
and a nondescript kind of mushroom of the size of
a currant was found to have grown on some of the
stalks. These mushrooms being submitted to the
inspection of M. Montagne, were declared by him
to be a new species, which he proposed to name
Aspergillus•Pouchetii. Another experiment was in
stituted to see whether the spores of cryptogumous
plants could resist a heat of 100 degrees, and it was
found that they could not. In a third experiment
a large glass vessel was filled under mercury with
the proportions of oxygen and nitrogen necessary
to form atmospheric air, hay was introduced with
the same precautions as before, and at the end of a
month not only mushrooms, but also animalculm of
the Protean genus were formed. These results were
of so startling a nature that a few days ago Mr.
Milne Edwards took up the question, and after re-
minding the Academy that he had often had occa-
sion to refute the theory of spontaneous generation
in his writings, remarked that, notwithstanding the
apparent nicety of MM. Pouchet and Houzeau's
experiments, their insufficiency might easily be
proved. M. Pouchet supposes that by subjecting
the hay employed to a temperature of 100 degrees,
the vitality of any spore .or germ contained in it
must have been destroyed ; but might it not be
doubted whether that temperature was really
attained by the hay ? It was enclosed in a phial
and left in the stove for 30 minutes ; but since both
glass and quiescent air are bad conductors of caloric,
the hay must have been but very moderately
warmed. But admitting that it had received the
full action of the temperature to which it was
exposed, the deduction that all the germs it con-
tained were extinct would still be false, it having
been proved by M. Chevreuil, and later by M.
Doyere, that certain animalculre, such as the tardi-
grades, when sufficiently dried up, will preserve
their vitality after several hours' exposure in a
stove to a much stronger heat than that applied by
M. Pouchet. He (Mr. Milne Edwards) had seen
animalculm resist a heat of 120 degrees, and M.
Doyere had carried the temperatnre to 140 degrees,
without causing the death of those microscopic
creatures, when previously dried. Mr. Milne Ed-
wards concluded with describing certain experi-
ments of his in which the generation of animalculre
was prevented by a temperature sufficiently strong
to produce the coagulation of the albumen con-
tained in the germs. MM. Payen, de Quatrefages,
Claude Bernard, and Dumas afterwards joined in
the discussion, adducing other facts calculated to
confirm Mr. Milne Edwards's view of the case.

THE GREAT DRAINAGE WORKS AND
THE BANK OF ENGLAND.

It is said that Government have decided upon
the mode of raising the large funds destined for the
extensive drainage works which are now contem-
plated with a view to the purification of the River
Thames. It has been definitively arranged that
the Metropolitan Drainage:Comtvissioners shall be
authorised to issue bonds to an amount not exceed-
ing £3,000,000 sterling, on which Government gua-
rantee 31 per cent. per annum interest. The other
parties to the arrangement are the Bank of England,
who have agreed to take the bonds, in sums of not less

than £50,000 at a time, at such periods as the
I Drainage Commissioners may require to issue them.
In like manner the Commissioners will have the
option of redeeming the bonds in sums of £50,000
each, whenever they deem it right to do so. The
latter proviso will obviate the objections of those
persons who, in the present state of the money
market, might be jealous of the preference given to
the Bank, and anxious to take a portion of the new
Government securities. The Drainage Commis-
sioners will have, in fact, an open credit of
three millions at the Bank of England, which
they may draw upon, or not, at their con-
venience. No other establishment could . ac-
cord
similar facilities upon so important a scale.
The interests of the public appear to be duly
consulted in the arrangement, since a work of pri-
mary necessity to 3,000,000 of souls will be facili-
tated, and no disturbance of the money market can
possibly be occasioned. The money will be ex-
pended on the spot, and the entire transaction, con-
sidered in a pecuniary sense, will be kept within a
very narrow circle. The advantages to the Bank
of England are obvious. That establishment will
be enabled to employ their surplus resources at a
remunerative rate of interest in the safest possible
securities, and they will doubtless, in addition, have
the keeping of the -Commissioners' banking account.
Ultimately, as the proceeds of the rates which will
be levied on the metropolis flow in, the bonds will
be paid off, but this consideration appertains to the
future.

THIS DAY'S MARKETS.

HAY MARKETS

SMITHFIELD.—Meaddw hay, £2 15s to £4 12s ; clover,
do., £4 Os to £5 Os; and straw, £1 5s to £1 10s per load.
Trade rather heavy. Supplies moderate.

CUMBERLAND.—Meadow hay, £3 Os to £4 12s; clover
do., £1 Os to £.5 Os ; and straw, £1 Gs to £1 lOs per lead.
A fair demand, at orr quotations. .

WIIITECHAPEL.—Meadow hay, £3 Os to £4los ; clover
do., £4 Os to £5 5s ; and straw, £1 Os to £1 12s per load.
Both hay and straw moved off steadily, at our quotations.

COLONIAL.

TEA.—The transactions have beon extremely limited, the
trade having been occupied with the samples of the large
quantity to be offered for public sale to-day. Prices con-
tinue firm.

SUGAR.—A very moderate business has been reported,
but quotations are steady. A considerable quantity will be
offered for public competition to-day and during the week.
In the refined market there has been about an average de-
mand, and prices are firm.
COFFEE.—There has been very little animation and the
few dealings reported have been chiefly in Plantation Cey-
lon for home consumption, and prices generally show little
variation.

RicE.—The demand for the inferior descriptions has
been active, chiefly for exportation, and prices show an
upward tendency.
SALTPII:TRE.—There has been a fair inquiry for the bettor
sorts, and fully late rates are current.

TALLOW.--A slight depression has taken place invalues.
P.Y.C. on the spot is now quoted 52s 9d, 538 to 53s 3d for
March, and 51s 9d to 52s for last three months.

COAL MARE
(Prices of Coal per Ton at

:ET—JAN. 17.
the close of the market.)
Walls E4d.

s. d.
Buddlo's West Hartleyls 3
Davison's WestHartleyls 3
Wylain l6 0
Tanfield Moor l2 0
Tanfield Moor Butes 12 0
Lambert's W. Hartley 15 0
Walker Primrose l3 0
Haswell Gas. l3 3

s. d.
Gosforth l7 3
Eden Main 18 0
Hetton l9 9
Cassop
Whitworth 15 0
Bradyll's Hetton 18 9
Eden 18 3
Harvey
Trimdon Thornley 17 6
Riddell 17 3
Belmont l7 3
Russell's lletton 18 6
Framwellgate 17 9
Haswell 2O 0
Hunwick 15 0
Nixon's D uffryn 21 0
Nixon's Merthyr 2l 0
Powell' s Dutfryn S team 21 0
71—Sold, 32.

Walls End.
South Hetton 19 6
Acorn Close 18 3
Byron.
Northumberland l5 3
Heugh Hall 18 3
Kelloe l9 0
South Kelloe l9 0
South Hartlepool 18 0
Hartlepool l9 3
Ships at market,

The Right Hon. C. B. Adderley left London
yesterday for Windsor Castle upon a visit to the Queen.
THE SUPPOSED MURDER AT DUDLEY.-"-The
adjourned inquest on the body of Mary Ann Townshend,
was resumed yesterday afternoon at Dudley. The jury
returned the following verdict, " That the death of the
deceased was attributable to suffocation, produced by exter-
nal 'pressure, but how or in what manner that external
pressure was produced, no sufficient evidence has been
offered." Townshendwas then liberated, being told by the
coroner that his previous good character had thrown sus-
picion off his shoulders.
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