Evening star., 1877-12-29

Tynda1l's Latest Experiments ON TN g
Subject.

IfVN lNlOsclklE WITHOUT GFRM>-
| ABSOLUTELY PURE AIR A PREVENTIVE OF
fERNENrATIoN-wHAT WAS DONE ON THE
A-Ps-How VEGETABLE AND MINERAL INFU-
sIoNs DIFFER.
tFrom the london T1DleSI
Prof. Tyndall delivered the opening lecture
! oi the winter session on Monday night, De
cember IL, at the London Institution He said
That within ten minutes walk of little cot
tage which he has recently built in the Alps
there Is small lake fed by the melted SHOWS
/ oi The upper mountains. During the early
weeks OF summer no trace of life i to b. dis
cerned IN this water, but invariably towards the
end OF july or beginning of August swarms Of
B tailed organisms are seen ENJOYING the suns
warmth along the shallow margins Of the lake
and rushing with audible patter into deeper
water at the approach of danger. The origin
OF this periodic crowd of living things is by no
means obvious. For years he has never no
uced In The lake either an adult frog or the
smallest fragment of frogs spawn. 50 that
were he not otherwise informed, he should
nave found the conclusion of MathiOle natu-
raj one-namely that tadpoles are generated
in lake mud by the vivifying action Of the sun,
The checks which experience alone can fur
nlsh being absent, the spontaneous generation
OF animals quite aS high aS the frog i'm the scale
OF being was assumed for ages as fact. For
nearly twenty centuries after Aristotle men
found no difficulty in believing i'm eases of
spontaneous generation which would now he
Regarded as monStrou> by the most fana.ical
supporters OF the doctrine. The discovery of
tne microscope. revealing world of life form
eu ol individuals so minute-SO close. aS il
-
10 Suggest an easy passage from atoms TO or
ganiSms, revived the diving doctrine. Dr.
INhdall traced its support by Button and
Needham (l7iS). and the experiments with a
contrary tendency of Spallanzani O77ql.
SchWann, HOmholtZ, Schroeder. and Won
busch. In 1879 POuchet. vigorous and ar
dent writer, strongly influenced opinion i'm
favor of spontaneous generation
faSteur published his classical paper in lsi2
ana ms mann position has never been shaken.
lie has applied the knowledge won from his
preservation AL a MI l..aar
To The manufacture of vinegar, and 10 The.
s!a!lng oi the plague which threatened de
Structlon TO the silk huSbandry in France
PIoi. Lister has thanked him in a published
letter Tor having furnished the only principl,,
Nhicn would have conducted the anliSepiic
system IN surgery 10 successful issue.
Our knowledge has been greatly extended
py frol. ,ohn. OF BreSlau. No putrefaction. =
ne says, can occur IN nitrogenouS substance
II lts bacteria he destroyed and new ones pre-
vented from entering it," Bactera are the
minute animals. 80 called from the rod like
appearance of some of them which are now
Thought to be at the root of the disease aS well
as OF putrefaction. According TO this view a
conta giouS fever may be defined as a conflict
between the person Smitten 10y it and a specific
organism which mutiplieS 1T his expense an
prOprlatlng his air and moisture. disintegra-
tihg MS TISSUES, or poisoning him by the de
compositions il causes
DIR. Tyndall referred in detail TO his expari-
mentS made this summer ON the Bel Alp above
the Rhone Valley, the spot. 7,e10feet above the
sea, being selected for the sake of the purity of
the air and its freedom from organisms.
Sixty TASKS would be filed i'm the manner de
scrlDed III the lecture with an infusion of beef
| mutton, turnip, and cucumber, sterilized by
Doillng, and Theoretically sealed. They are
TRANSPORTED to the Alps. Ii is the month of
july and The weather is favorable To putrefac-
tion. Al the Bel-Alp 81 TASKS are counted ont
with their liquids as clear as filtered drinking
water. In six TASKS, however. the Infusion is
round muddy. ON examination it is discOv-
| cred that every one of these has had its fragile
end broken OF in the transit from London
Air has entered TASKS and muddinesS is the
result Examined with a microscope Of insult
nclent power, nothing Is seen i'm the muddy
liquid: but regarded with magnifying power
Oi thousand diameters. what an astonishing
appearance does il present,
Leeuwenhoek estimated the population of a
single drop of stagnant water at 5nODa eD0: /:
probably the population of drop of our turbid
Infusion would he this ten times multiplied
The field OF the microscope is crowded with or
ganlSms, some ''wObbling' SLOWLY others
smoothing rapidly across the microscopic field
And yet the most celebrated naturaliSts tell us
that they are vegetables. Has this multitudin-
Gus lie been spontaneously generated i'm these
SIX TASKS, or Is the progeny of living germinal
matter carried into the flask by the entering
ar: III the lnfusions have selfgeneraIive
power. how are the sterility and consequent
clearness OF the fifty-fOur uniniured TASKS to
be accounted for.
1t has been affirmed that the vacuum above
the INFUSION lS favorable to the production of
organisms, and their absence from tins of pre-
served meat, fruit. and vegetables is account
ed Tor by the hypothesis that fermentation has
begun in such tins, that gases have been gen
Grated, the pressure of which has stified the
inclpient life and stopped its further deyelop-
ment. But in wellpreServed tins DIR. Tyn-
dali has invariably found not an outrush of
gas, but an thrush of water. On the other
hand. he has exposed the organisms TO pres
sure OF gases without killing them The iifty
four pellucid TASKS declare against the heter-
ogeniSt.
The TASKS are next exposed to a warm AL
pine sun by day. and at night suspended i'm a
warm kltcnen. -Four of them have been acci-
dentally broken, but at the end of a month the
nfty remaining TASKS are found as clear as at
the commencement. There is no sign of pu-
ieIactlOn or OF life in any of them. These
naskS are divided into two groups of 23 and y
respectively. The question now is whetherthe
admission of air can liberate any generatiye
energy IN the infuSiOnS. The TASKS are carried
10 nay-iSit, s and The ends shipped of from the
The q TASKS are borne to a ledge 90 feet
nlgner, from which the mountain falls away
preclpltouSly TO the northeast for about l 100
feet. gentle wind blows toward il from the
northeast, across the crests and snow fields of
Inc Bernese Oberland. The spot is therefore
bathed IN ar which must have been for good
While out OF contact with either animal or
vegetable life. Standing carefully to the lee
ward of the TASKS, for no dust or particle from
thelr clothes or bodies must be blown TO the
naskS, the operators first SINCE the pliers i'm a
spirit lamp to destroy all attached germs or
organisms: and then snip off the sealed end of
the mask. In this way the q TASKS are charged
Il. ~
TASKS are placed with their necks open over a
kitchen stove i'm a temperature varying from
0O 10 So Fahrenheit, and i'm three dayS 2l out
OF the Is haSkS opened on the hayIoft are
found TO be invaded by organisms. Alter
three weeks exposure to precisely the same
conditions, not one of the = TASKS opened i'm
free air had given way. No germ from the
Kitchen air had ascended the narrow necks.
the TASKS being shifted 10 produce this result
They are still in the Alps, as clear and as free
from lie as they were when sent of from
London. Wa 'i''
Is not the conclusion Imperative that il WAS
not the air, but something i'm the air which
produced the effects observed i'm the TASKS
placed i'm the haylOft? What is this sOmethings
This air is laden with suspended dust par.
ticleS. Can they have been the origin of the
observed life? III SO, are We not bound by All
ahtecedent experience to regard these fruitful
particles as the germs of the life obseryed9
lie would place before his friend and co in
qulrer two liquids which had been kent for six
months In sealed chamber exposed To ohti.
cally pure air. The one is a mineral solution.
containing in proper proportion all the sub
stances which enter into the composition of
bacteria; the other is an infusion of turnip.
BOth liquids are as clear as distilled water and
there Is no trace of life i'm either of them.
mutton chop, over which a little water has been
poured to keep its juices from drying up. has
lain for three days upon plate i'm a warm
room. Ii smells Offensively Placing a dron nf
fhGl fafI taUrff s.,sa