But it has been shown that the monad has germs, and that these have a power of resisting heat up to 300 Fahr.—that is to say, 25 Fahr. higher than that to which Dr. Bastian's infusion was exposed—and therefore, by the logic of facts, the monads found were not a result of "spontaneous generation," but were the natural outcome of a genetic product contained in the infusion, and which the heat employed could not destroy.
We need no stronger proof of the futility of reasoning concerning the thermal death-point of a minute organism where developmental history is wholly unknown. Yet so confident is our experimenter of his result that he says: "Nothing that has yet been alleged, by way of objection to the admission of spontaneous generation as an every-day fact, at all affects such experiments as these. The shortest way out of the difficulty would, therefore, be to doubt the facts." But I think I have shown a still shorter way "out of the difficulty," and that without the discourtesy of doubting Dr. Bastian's experimental "facts."
The truth, then, is that Dr. Bastian had no real knowledge of the monad; but he argued as if he had. Hence assumed premises led to a false and fatal conclusion.
He is simply repeating this in his latest attitude in reference to the question of the mode of origin of bacteria. Compelled to yield all else, he throws up a rampart round his exceptional flasks, and declares spontaneous generation to be impregnable an inviolable law of Nature. Dr. Tyndall is plainly told that his knowledge is insufficient, that he has mistaken the meaning of the question, and that his mode of treating it is "laughable;"[1] and all this arises from the fact that Prof. Tyndall dealt with the question of the mode of origin of bacteria generally; whereas, to have pleased Dr. Bastian, he ought to have explained some exceptional conditions to which he now points—the exceptions being more important than the rule!
What are the facts?
- Dr. Tyndall has proved, in connection with a host of others, but in a more definite and precise manner, that in filtered infusions five minutes' boiling does kill every form of bacteria.
- He has further shown that they are propagated by demonstrable germs only, in such infusions; and—
- This fact removes the probability of their spontaneous generation to an almost infinite distance.
As to the development of bacteria in infusions charged with solid matter, precise experiment of a sufficiently comprehensive character has yet to be made on them, in relation to the demonstrated germs. Meantime, shall we accept "spontaneous generation" on such ground as its strongest advocate has now to offer, and ignore the vast chain of facts copiously attested and controlled, which are in perfect har-
- ↑ Lancet, February 5, 1876, and British Medical Journal, February 5, 1876.
