Note 83 — COMPARATIVE EXPERIMENTS.

See notes on pp. 73 and 79. It was not that these fluids were incapable of being inoculated, or that they were unsuitable for the development of the lower forms of life, as was shown by their subsequent fate, and by the fact that they can always speedily be made to become turbid if they are really inoculated with living Bacteria. Almost similar facts in opposition to the prevalent Panspermic views have been noted by Professor Cantoni (Rend. del R. Istit. Lombardo, Novembre, 1869). He found (as I have also frequently found) that when fluids had been subjected to the influence of high temperatures, and had subsequently remained sterile in closed flasks, they might be freely exposed to the air for one or two weeks, or more, without becoming turbid—although at any time a general turbidity could be speedily induced, by introducing a few living Bacteria into the fluid.