Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-08-02
Aaritnltmral.
Spontaneous Generation.


There is quite az much inquiry about the
origin Of life among the unlearned as among
philosophers. The farmer who secs crop
Of pine succeeding growth Of hard wood,
when neither he nor his fathers ever saw 4
pine tree growing in the locality, very
naturally thinks of the possibilities Of spon-
taneous generation, and he plows up a sod
that had not been disturbed for generation,
and which, to his certain knowledge, has
produced nothing but grass, and the count
less plants Of charlgck and other weeds
spring up to annoy him. What does it
mean2 III they spring from seed, where
could Ithe seed spring from lie finds a
patch Of Canada t1istlcs 10 the midst Of his
meadow, with 40 other plant Of the kind
within miles Of bis farm. A red raspberry
springs NJ in the neglected brush row beside
his fence. while there j. not a red raspberry
in the town, and nobody ever heard OF one.
Semilar cases are constantly occurring, and
he grows skeptlcal about every plant, " pro
ducIug seed after its kind, and the necessity
Of having germs In all cases, for the prOduc-
ton of vegetable life. lie hears Of learned
men who believe in spontaneous genera ton,
and reads Of experiments which almost seem
t. prove it, His few facts as to the prOduc-
ton of plants under unusual conditions,
grow in importance as he reflects upon them
Spontaneous generation thus far is merely
hypothesis Nobody needs to prove 1t more
than Professor AuxIey, to sustain his views
Of origin Of life. lie thinks it is unwise for
a philosopher il the present state of science
to admit that such thing IS impossible /;
and vet, after full review Of all tie expert
menta that have been made by the most COM
petent men who wanted to prove it, he is
compelled to concede that nothing Of the
kind has been proven but that on the con
trary every cXpcIim mt looks the other way.
An infusion of hay left open to the air,
will in short time be swarning with infu-
soria Ii it is boiled, however, and scaled
from the air, or il plug Of cotton strains
the air, or if even the air which comes in
contact with it has passed through a vent
tube from below upward, the infusion will
produce no life; while the free admission OF
air will produce life in the same liquid. Ex-
perimeats have been tri q in all possible
WAYS. and seem ID show to any reasonable
mind that certain spores or germs prevade
the atmosphere, which arc essential to the
development Of this kind Ot life. This
j. a concise statement of the grand results
Of all the efforts Of scientific men to disturb
.he faith Of the multitude in the commonly
RECEIVED opinions ABOUT the origin OF life.
These efforts have in some minds excited
good deal Of alarm, but thus tar nothing
alarming has been detected. Every plant
still prod uces seed after its kind, and a new
generation Of plants grows from these seeds, 4
and we think it will somewhat later in this (
wonderful nineteenth century, when any one .
will show 50 much faith in spontaneous gen 4
Grafton, as to pillow his fields and look for
harvest without the ordinary seed wedding. +
How, then, are we to account for the pro-
duction Of plants. without visible, proven .
seed-grOwing? The provisions Of nature for .
the distribution Of seeds, and for their pres /
ervation in the soil, are numerous, and ex- &
ingenious Some seed vessels are
armed with buTs and spiucs, - that they
adhere to tie wool and hair of animals and !
NAV be transported by animals while living
or TO distant climCs in their pclts alter death 2
Some are bound up in the core Of edible
fruits, and carried in the stomachs Of
animals % distant regions. Other seeds
have wings attached to them, and carried
by the winds very far from their birth place (
The nuts Of the larger trees are stored by .
animals for winter use, and the forgotten
hoard springs to life in new locality as
readily as if it had been purposely planted.
Running water also II an agency for the dis
tribution Of seeds, The cottonwood Of the
upper Missouri and Mississippi is sOwn for
thousands Of miles along the banks below.
Whether We accept the tradition Of mum
my wheat or not, there can be no doubt that
seeds preserved 4 very long time under
favorable condition.. Ia tue soil they seem
TO preserve their vitality for an indefinite
term, waiting fer the needed heat, light and
atmospheric action to spring into life.
W hen the oak chestnut il cut off, it lets
the sun fall upon coil that has been shaded
for generations, and new stock Of seeds is
immediately quickened and soon gain the
ascendancy over All other varieties. The
pines or spruccs have waited patiently their
turn in the succession and now have the
field. The rotation in the forest, when care
fully examined only confirms our faith in the
commonly received law Of reproduction
Hearth and Home.