The Relation of Science and Religion.pdf - Online Christian Library

EXPERIENCE FROM PAST CONFLICTS. 51trivance, was at last overcome by the constructionof glass tubes, separating for a timethe distinct materials, with facility for theirmixture at the proper moment without contactwith the air.The true scientific difficulty, however, wasdetermination of a reliable test for destructionof germinal forms, either adhering to thematerials, embedded in them, or floating inthe atmosphere. The history of observationsbearing on this question is deeply interesting.In the earlier tentative experiments, the materialplaced under observation was boiled; itwas concluded that no vital organism couldendure this process; and the material waskept for a time in a temperature of fromseventy to eighty degrees Fahr., which wasregarded as favorable to the development ofK . In process of time, a deposit appearedin the tube, and this when examined underthe microscope was found to contain bacteria,*living, moving germinal forms so minuteas to require high magnifying power for theirdiscovery. Here then was " spontaneous generation."Who could be so credulous as to* Examples of the bacteria magnified 1,800, 3,000, and 5,000times are given in Plate I. p. 16, of Beale's Disease Gems,