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Organisms Produced within Closed Flasks which had been Previously Heated to 270-275° F. for Twenty Minutes, and to Temperatures over 230° F. for One Hour. (× 800). See pp. 175-178.

AND THE

40130

ORIGIN OF LIFE

BY

H. CHARLTON BASTIAN, M.A., M.D., F.R S.

=

Fellow of the Linnean Society,

Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians,

Professor of Pathological Anatomy in University College, London,
Physician to University College Hospital.

London:

MACMILLAN AND CO.

1874.

[The Right of Translation and R production is Reserved.]

QH 366 .831

"To experience we refer, as the only ground of all physical inquiry. But before experience itself can be used with advantage, there is one preliminary step to make, which depends wholly on ourselves: it is the absolute dismissal and clearing of the mind of all prejudice from whatever source arising, and the determination to stand or fall by the result of a direct appeal to facts in the first instance, and of strict logical deduction from them afterwards."

SIR JOHN HERSCHEL: Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy.

"The fair question is, Does the newly proposed view remove more difficulties, require fewer assumptions, and present more consistency with observed facts than that which it seeks to supersede? if so the philosopher will adopt it, and the world will follow the philosopher-after many days."

MR. JUSTICE GROVE: Inaugural Address as President of the British

Association, 1866.

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PREFACE.

SINCE the publication of my larger work, “The Beginnings of Life," in 1872, some long-overhanging clouds have been dispersed. Well-informed men of science no longer doubt that swarms of Bacteria can be made to appear within sealed glass vessels containing suitable fluids, after the vessels and their contents have been exposed to the temperature of boiling water. The thorough establishment of this fact has been of the greatest importance.

Statements as to the reality of so unexpected an appearance of Bacteria were previously received with actual disbelief or the profoundest scepticism. It was much easier to imagine that I had been mistaken or deceived than to suppose that living Bacteria could really appear within closed flasks which had been subjected to the conditions men

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