Smithsonian Report, 1875. Pp. 422. Washington: Government Printing-Office.
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POPULAR MISCELLANY.
Tyndall and Roberts on Spontaneous Generation.—Dr. Bastian, in a communication to the Royal Society of London, last June, cited some experiments to show that, while an acid urine usually remains barren after being boiled a few minutes, it becomes fertile when similarly treated if previously neutralized by liquor potassæ, especially if it be afterward maintained at a temperature of 115° or 120° Fahr. But the significance of these results for the doctrine of spontaneous generation is proved to be very little indeed by Dr. William Roberts and Prof. Tyndall, both of whom show that Bastian's experiments only confirm the observation made by Pasteur more than fourteen years ago, that alkaline liquids are more difficult to sterilize than acid ones. They further show that such liquids, once effectually sterilized, according to methods which they describe, remain perfectly sterile when the access of life-germs from without is precluded. The addition of the alkali appears to enable the preëxisting germs in the urine to survive the process of ebullition. To prevent this conservative action of the liquor potassæ, and at the same time to have a mixture precisely the same as that experimented on by Bastian, Tyndall adopted the following mode of procedure, which is substantially identical with that adopted by Dr. Roberts: Small tubes, with their ends finely drawn out, were charged with a definite amount of caustic potash, and subjected for a quarter of an hour to a temperature of 220° Fahr. They were then introduced into flasks containing measured quantities of urine. The urine being boiled for five minutes, the flasks were hermetically sealed during ebullition. They were subsequently permitted to remain in a warm
