Note 41 — Chapter V · NITROGEN AND AIR
George Kamensky translation
In further confirmation of the fact that putrefaction and fermentation depend on germs carried in the air, we may cite the circumstance that poisonous substances destroying the life of organisms stop or hinder the appearance of the above processes. Air which has been heated to redness or passed through sulphuric acid no longer contains the germs of organisms, and loses the faculty of producing fermentation and putrefaction.