, 1870-11-27

Nhcse origin he investigated certainly werc
rot the products Of eront,neols generation.
Re+li conceived tue theory thar spontaaeous
generation Was fiction FROM beginning to
tn.l. and that the exclusive method Of nature
WAS expressed By What has aince become the
familiar mauiIn U,nMc cirun, "a ric1. Asa
working hy potlesis to be tested by future e1-
rcriaient, thus WAS legitimate enough. As II
scientific conclusion- 1t would hAro been
very a,ltaacious generalization. Until the COM
nenccmeut Of what may be called the micro
scopic age, thcrc were no means Of carrying
tho inrestigation further. BY this time, how
ever, the maxim Onthe rirum ex riro had got
associated with ideas nov almost exploded
about distinctive vital forces. and had be-
come AS firm an article Of faith As the oppo-
rite doctrine had been before Redi discIed-
.ted il. 4 new era WAS commenced, and
II il to the revelations OF the microscope
! during the last centnrr. aud especially In
qnlte recent times. that both parties to the
controversy APPEAL The programme Of all
,hesc experiments has been the same. First
| destroy and exclude every trace Of l,fe-thsn
| zee II under any lntluerces life eau be evol-
| we'd At each successive stage the sttingcney
! of the methods employed has steadily in
| creased. In all Of them, however, heat has
leen the destructive agent eraployed. Need
| h2m took solution or haS. Boiled it to de-
ssroy all life within, and coiked and sealed his
tlAsls to exclude Ill acces: OF life from With
ont. Nevertheless his solutions bred ANIMAL
| culer. and he aacribed the fact to spontaneous
| generation. SPallanxani repeated the expert
! ment with eeverer precautions. He boiled bis
tolutions longer. and hermctieslly sesled his
t,aaAe instetd Of cctking Them. No apim2t-
cnles aVpeAred, and 70 far the inference
seemed irresistible, that the source Of life in
Seedham'e experiments was somethinG which
might be destroyed hy heat and excluded by q
film Of elhs.. II 20, what mora likely thin a
germ Sehw1nn followed on tbs came eide.
He c.fctnea Air and allowed it to approach Ais
boiled solutions, and no life appeared. IL
admitted ordinary air, md lie sbounded-
Thus It seemed 10 be prored almost to de-
menttzstion that the presence Of unbarncl
air contributed largely to the production o1
lisc, and no c1TlaEation OF this IVES % natu
raj az tho hypothesis that tie air Is laden will
ny1iads q tloating germs Of lie. The mega
tive conclusion tLat this ACCESS OF germs Nal
the oE1E mode By which life could be produced
was frcm it's nature lees essy to pzave. So IA.
a. Sch1 ann'a experiments went. it seeu,ci
likely, hut they supplied too slender aatl, IL i
sftcfWaso proved, too uusound basis for 81
large generalization. Tasteut. himself ,
! strong o2l onent ot spontaneous generation
Ee TOO at frst obtained only negative rn1uIis
! he Yonnd that when the solution cout1ipeu ca
tain alkaline fluids life appeared In spite Of th
l tcilirs and the calcining. This showed III.
. to GeIesaltze from seh*anne results woal
1 Lave lSSA ~ tGA.l PkEA43+AAd1 JUL 1EllGGf OK
rerint pts satisied ras,eur that il the hos
applied was raised from C. 100 to C. ITO. u
POWER OF evolving life disappeared e5on frpI
the alkaline solution. No Visible germs, m
less specially projected. hare ever been shor
10 require 20 hiGh temperature to dessso
ing tits degree Of vital resistance sppr4cilbl
Weakened TIC germ hypothesis. Still up /
this point /: did seem 10 be established th,
the rover If vital evolution could not surviy
! fluid temperature OF C. 1io; aaa the turttas
Inference That connected this tempesstul
Germs was at least - likely ~ any other C.
6lauaiion. We sag Ibis without being u
fnirdf Of Dr., BaEtian's suggestion that he
may be eorctiyed "a preventing vital evA
tion ky affecting the molecular ar1nugemel
! O! ma,str "a wen ~ by TIE auailusa,;on !