Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1860-03-12
g aailg avir9iaiau.
Spontaneous Generation of Plants and In
sects.


At lato sitting of the French Academy of Sci
cnces. Monseurs Ponchet and Houzeau had pre-
scntcd u curious paper, in which they described
certain experiments Of theirs for tho purpose of
nscertaning whether animal life could be produced
by mere chemical agency. Ii is well known
that the majority of nnturalists are of opinion
that the spontaneous generation of animals and
plants under peculiar chemical and physical cir.
cumstances is impossible. and TINT Monsicurs
Schultze, Schwann, md others have published OK
pcrimcnts on the subject, which have hitherto mp
reared unanswcrnblc Nevertheless Monsicurs
Pouchct and llouzeau stated in their paper that,
having repeated the experiments of their prede.
ccssors, they had constantly obtained affirmative
instead o negative results. As to their own OK
pcrimcnts. they describe tho following
rhnl having been filled with boiling water,
then closely stopped with the greatest preeau,on,
was rlaeed in nn inverted position in reury
bath. then opened under the mercury, when half
n lltrc oi pure oxygen gas was introduced. In
mcdntcly afterwards small wisp Of hay. weigh.
ing ten grammcs, and just taken out ofa stoyc
where il had been exposed for half m hour To II
heat If one hund cd degrees ccntrignde (beiling
point) was also introduced into the rhinl. which
was then hcrmcticoly closed and sealed. Ten
DAYS afterwards IT was reopeucd, and, 1t having
been asccrtnincd that no atmospheric air had
penetrated Into the interior the contents were cx.
nmincd, and nnndcscript kind Of mushroom ot
the size nl II curraut was found to have grown on
some nf,the stalk. These mushrooms being sub
miitci To the inspection II Nj. Montague, were
declared by lin Il bc species, which he
proposed IL nAmc 1yperq,HuS 1urhct6. Another
experiment MAS instituted to SEQ whether the
spores oi crytueomou~ rlants could resist heat
or enc hunlrci degrees. and it was found HAT
they coul not In n third experiment large
vessel was filled under mercury with the prop"r-
tion> Of oxygen and nitrogen necessary h form
Is,u int iln
same precautions u- hrturc, aud Mt the end Of n
month not only mushrooms, but also nnimnlcu',e
of the Protean genus were formed.
These results were Of 50 startling nnturc that
n few days ngo Mr., Milne Edwards took up thu
question, and, after reminding the academy that
he had often had occasion to rclutc the theory OF
spontaneous generation in his writings remarked
that notwithstanding the apparent nicety oi NM.
Pnuchct and llouzcau's experiments, their Insult
fcicncy might easily be proved. NJ. Pouchrt sup
poses that by suhccting the hay employed To u
icmprratnre Of 100 degrees, tho vitality Of any
srorc of germ contained in it must have been de-
stroyed; but might it not be doubted whether that
tcmrcraturc was rcnlly attained by the hay? 1t
was inrlosed in n phinl aud l,lt in the stove for
thirty minutes; but since ho'h glass and quics-
cent air are bad conductors of calorc. the hny
must have been but very moderately wnrmc1 -
But admitting that it had received the full action
Of the temperature to which it was exposed, the
deduction that all tho germs it contained were
extinct would still be false it having been proved
by NJ Che,rcul. and later by NJ Doyere that
certain animnlcun, such tho tardigrados,
when sufficiently dried M. will p:eserye their vi
tality after several hours exposure in stove Ia
mnch stronger heat than that supplied by NJ.
Pouchet llo tMr Milne Eiwards) hal seen
imnlcul;c resist heat oi l20 degrees and NJ
Doycero had carried the temperature To lao de-
grces. without causing death to those microscopic
creatures. when previously dried. Mr. Milne
Edwards concluded with describing certain cxper
imcnts Of his in which the generation of animal
cuIm prevented by temperature sufficiently
strong to produce the congnlation Of the nlhumen
contained in the germs NM Paycn. tie Qiatre.
fngcs Blande Bernard and Dumas. afterwards
lined in the discussion. ndducng other facts cal
culatcd to confirm Mr. Milne Edwarjs's YEA Of
the case.