, 1870-10-09
SPONTANEOUS GENERATION.

3Ec>cnrch-ContnEt nnd lnleC-
aion-PhilusaphlcA Fatth-Ctl;itT
of ActSnccs
rsv"n The sptteh Of Professor H'srlty before tie
BF1ttah 4 Assoefdtton.
It is matter OF eyerydsy experience that it
Il difficult to prevent many articles Of food
from becoming covered With moutd that
rains gtuha at the core; that meat. left TO it.
nth u the air, is apt to putrefy and swnrn1
with msggots- Even ordinary water, II al
loved to stand In an open vessel. sooner or
later becomes tutbid and full OF living mat- |
tex. Tie philosophers Ut antiquity, when in-
terrosated a. to the cause OF these pheho- !
rnena, were provided with reaay and plau4i- |
bic Ausxef. II did not answer their miuds
even to doubt that these low forms Of life
were generated In the matters in which they
made their appesrance, And the proposition
that life may and does proceed from that
oscphers. the poets. aud the people Of the
must enlightened nations eighteen hundred
years ago, and renamed the accepted doctrine
rf learned ard unlcarncd Europe through the
1Ei1dle ages down even to the seyenteenth
century. ..
snDsTASEors GENERATION p1scExp1ED.
The tirst Reputation Of it. tho first distinct
c,unciation Of the proposition that all living
matter has sprung from preexlstinG living
matter. coEne from an Italian, F1anccsco Rcd!.
t man OF the widest knovlcdgc and most yer.
b.t1le abilities, distinguished alike az aecholsr,
poet. physician, snd naturalist: who Just 90
yerrs ago gavo to the world the idea which il
il my purpose TO trace. He did not trouble
himself with speculative considerations, but
attacked ezpeIimentally Whist had been consia-
eied to be particular casea Of spontaneous
generation. " Hero are dead animals, or
Iicces Of meat" he said "a expose them to
the air in hut weather. aud in few days they
&15l 81.
generated in the dead llcHh hut it I put 1imi-
Jar bodies, while quite fresh, intoa jar, and tie
rome eatlsa over the top Of the jar. not mag
Eltmakteitsaprearance while dead aub6txncet,
nevertheless, put.cfy just in the same way
BE- before. It IL obvious, therefore. that the
:aasgott ere not generated by tue sorrnption
It ti.s ,aeat ahd that the cause Of their for
1u..ion must be some:hnG which ia kept Away
by gauz-. Bul gauze Hill rot keep away :ers-
&c IA b1tieh Or t!uiis, This Something tnua.,
II eycio1e. exist in the form OF solid particles
90 hig e get ttIoagt, Tic gauzc- Sur il one
lcIg lett il doubt NLst these solid particles
ara: for tie blow-d;cs, attractcd t,s the udor
af the meat, swarm round the vessel, aud,
urted by powerful, but in this case nisleal-
| ing instinct. lay egg. out OF which maggo.s
| Ate iunelliatey hatched croa the Eluxe.
! Tie co:.cluEiop, therefore, IL unavoiiaal.-the
masgote are not generated ty Ill. meat, but
the eggs which give zise to them arc brought
through the ar By dies." Almost cli!dishy
ample a. these experiments now seem, they
| OF careful study. Every piece Of experimental
work since doue, in relation to this subject.
hsr been shaped uron the model left By tho
Italian philosopher.
I5PEnlNfSTs BY BUXTON Asp SEEpHAA
Led by various theoretical considerations,
GEtIon and Neetbam doubted the applicable
/ itS Of Raid's hypothesis to the infusorial ami
| 1nAlCn1cs, and Eeedhan endeayored to bring
tie question to an experimental test- lie ar
| EIed tlat If these creatures were produced
| from ger1nt, the germs must exist either il
tue substance infused. o. in the water; or in
germs ID destroyed BY heat and hencs, il the
infusion were boiled, carefully co1kad. and
the vessels containing it again heated, all
| gems pretent would 20 destroyed. Conse-
] quently, OF II ids hypothesis, when the Veg
| sells thut prepared wete act Asile to cool, no
suimalcules should be duvelops1 il
thcu.: whereas it aniualcules arc not
Ss1'''sle but sre generated e from the SUB. sub.
| stance infused. they ought in. time make their
| appearance. Seedham found, under the Gig
cunastAnccs in which, lie made bis experiments,
:hat arlma!cules alway>A1d arise in tho iufu-
,itns. III much Of his work Secdhan wAs As.
ex1ermeuts fitted with the FrentE u4tu1alist's
htpoti,ees OF "orGnnic molecules" according
10 Which life is tho iniefeasibie property oi
| ssr=in indctt1uctibss molecu1e. Of matte,
which exist :1 al living things, aud lave in
hclrrt activities bY which :he5 arc jistin
gniel.ed from not living matter. Each inli
v1dua( living organism is formed ~ thei
the relation OF the particles Of w.:er to . cas
csds or whirlpool, or to the mould into WHICH
the water il poured. The form Of tho organ.
liza is thus determined BY tie reaction be.
tween external conditions aud the inh6reu,
activities OF the organic molecules Of which
it is composed; and ~ the stoppase Of a
whirlpool destrola nothing but foam, AM!
their inherent activities intact, 50 wha, We call
| the death aud putrcfattion of m animal or ot
| plant il ;uezely tho breaking up OF the form,
| or man1e1 Of Association, Of its coustituen.
urSnlic molecules. Witch s:e then set FREQ A.
/! intusortal auirnalcules. On ,hih hypothesis, 4
only in limited eeuse, The beef is dead or.
ard the hay ia dead grass; but tho organic
:uo,eculee" of tho beef or the hac arc uet
lead, but are ready TO manifest their vitality
IL souu ~ tue bostne o. he1baeeoEs s5.uul=
III Which .ley are Imprisoned arc reut ~ tho
naceEatil's action Of water.
! Stw AsrECI OF TIE QUESTION.
! Eut tho r: cat tragedy ci tcionc.-tlle Staying
OF 4 tnautiful k.posbeais By An nsly fact
wlish is 60 constantly being en.c.e3 tnlcs The
I eyt * philosophers, was played almost tnl,ae-
| tiate1y, for the tenefit Of DuGou aud Need.
! ham. The Able Spatlapzani suggested thai
Necal7ma experiments lad not been conduct.
| cd With sufficient csxs; and showed ttat A more
| prolonged exposure OF the taskt to An eleya-
| cd temperature and more complete maihoJ
y: rlas.ng them, entirely prevented the appear.
| ance of snimalcules. But re all too often
forget that it IL one thing to reftte PROPOSE.
!. TIN. aud another to prove the truth Of doc
':lae that contsasiicts that proposition; aud
Tho advance Of science soon showed thst
1T follow thu, Spai1snzani was quite rignt.
The discovery Of oxygen, and Of some OF its
relations 10 the phenomena OF LIE, opened q
| reE aspect to the question, and oocasonetl
doubts as to what might have happened TO :hs
| organic u1attar Of the IneuHaors. or 10
ments. What security WAS there that the de-
,elepmeut Of Life had no: been checked or
| tcveutcd By chemical chauSea; 1t was
nreaful to repeat the experiments under con-
4 .'jtions which would make aufe that neither
he orysen Of the dr nos the composition O:
! he organic matter wae Altered in sach man-
;cT Is 10 into, fero with thts existence Of life.
| Schulze aid Sch@ana devised means OF ac-
| co1nr.i-hiUg this, fy caueinE the ouly air
/ which rcacsed the 1nfusions to raas through
,.,'-Los tut es q! through strong sulphuri:
4 III. They fosaa thst an infusion 10 ,re4tctl
]
| t.i,erws-,s exfuecd - common air, life Ap-
csrt1 atui dainty. The accuracy OF thei-
xre7merts has been By turns Affirmed and
,!cr,e*l. hat, in aur case, they onlv proved tbs,
:Ee t1eArlsnt 10 which tie air had heeu sub
| jtcted had de-'toyef something that Was es-
J stltial to the Development OF lite in infu-
sinns. This sorasthiug might b solid, tluid.
| or ss4cout .hst il consisted Of germs re-
,n.:ned only AZ hypothesis OF more o. loss
probability.
TEE Ata It'll Of I1E1N1 DIST.
Tho invesugnu-us OF Sehsoeder and Dusch
in 1851, and Of Schrpe4let alone in is59.
cleared up this point BY showing that the
exclusion Of air from az is1tu-iou ~ plug Of
cp,rea wool prevented putsefaciicn, fermenta.
tls1l, and tho Development Of organic forms.
II I. hard to imagine via: the ine sieve
formed by cotton ao1l cculd have excluded,
rs-etrsd fos Professor IJpd1fl to complete
tire t,enorrtrasion-drst, rs showing thai or
tl,psr5 air does contain such particles. and
ecco1 dig, Inst llt=a,ton through cotton wool
removes 'hen,. It has hseu common osiec-
OF IL she doctrne:of bioeeness,, thAt. .if it
ard the ab;oGe1tists rrcas1 this ~ the height
Of absarditF. Professor Tyndali has proved
thai ordinary aiY IL no better thau u Eti1naout
ct excessively minnie eolid particles :. that
these PARTICLES arc alzuo=t wholly dsstr1ctitle
lv heat: Ara that they are Strained cI, aud
tbs sir rendered opticallr pure, UE passing
through I layer Of cotton wocl-
sCax1Sa TT TIE An6C1EE-1.
From the whole cLsia OF evidence it is de-
raunst1able: That t1t,id emlncntly fit for the
development OF tho lowest forms OF life, but
which contains no germs. nor Aly protein
c, mpouad. gives rise to liriog things in great
rtur,dauea Il it is exposed to ordinary air,
whi1o there is no such development il the air
With which it is Il coutact il uech,nical1y
r-eta from the soll PARTICLES which usually
| tluas iu it, and which MAY be made viaiI1e By
| aprrop1iats means that tie great m1iozity OF
lie particles are destrcetib!e by hest, and That
rome Of these are germs or living particles
| ne az those which appear when the fluid u ex-
| rc-ed to uururi1ed air; that incubation OF
| the experimental duid with 4 drop Of liquid
| lnnun IA Contain living narticlAs r1ras