[62] The results of this experiment are most interesting, especially if compared with what takes place when some of the same fluid is neutralized by ammonic carbonate (No. XXXIV.), with what occurs when a similar fluid (as in No. XXX.) is contained in a flask sealed during the continuance of ebullition, or also with what occurred in Nos. XIII. and XXXII. In the present case the second boiling seems to have destroyed what small amount of fermentability there was still remaining in the solution; but in No. IX. fermentation did take place after the second boiling—though this occurred only under the influence of diminished pressure and a higher temperature.
[63] Some of same as that which was used (unaltered) in last experiment.
[64] It had been rendered turbid from the first, by the carbolic acid.
[65] The fluid had been rendered paler and turbid from the first, by the addition of the carbolic acid.
[66] The alteration in colour was less marked than in the similar mixture which had not been boiled, though the turbidity was just as obvious.
[67] This fluid was whitish, and somewhat opaque, from the first.
[68] For other experiments showing a similar sterility, induced by a slight acidification with acetic acid, see ‘Nature,’ 1870, No. 37, pp. 226 and 227.
[69] The results of this experiment, and of No. LXIII. are decidedly opposed to the reality of the germ-killing powers with which carbolic acid has been endowed by Professor Lister and others. I, however, had previously found that specimens of Torulæ and Bacteria, obtained from freshly opened flasks, and then mounted as microscopical specimens in a mixture of glycerine and carbolic acid (in the proportion of 15:1), not unfrequently grew and multiplied under such conditions. MM. Béchamp and Estor, also found that Bacteria multiplied in carbolized fluids, and similar facts have been testified to by some Italian observers. But, organic fluids differ much from one another, so that the influence of carbolic acid may well be different upon different fluids. And, accordingly, we find that whilst its addition to, and subsequent boiling with, a hay infusion increases the fermentability of this, precisely the opposite effects are produced when the hay is replaced by a turnip infusion (see No. XLV.). Without wishing to undervalue in the least the system of treatment introduced, and so admirably carried out by Professor Lister, I am strongly of opinion that he explains his results by theories which are almost wholly incorrect.
[70] All the simple ammoniacal solutions were in the proportion of ten grains of the salt to the fluid ounce of distilled water; and to those which also contained sodic phosphate, three grains of this were added. About half an ounce of each solution was put into a one-ounce wide-mouthed bottle, and then tightly corked.
[71] On comparing the corresponding experiments of series XLVIII.–LI. with those of series LIII.–LVI. less difference is found than might have been expected by many. The comparison of the numbers of each series with one another, also reveals the interesting fact, that the mere presence of N, C, O, and H, is not all that is required, even for the growth and nutrition of the lower living things. These elements seem to lapse into the new combinations constituting living matter of various kinds, more easily from certain pre-existing states of combination than from others. Solutions of ammonic tartrate are much more favourable starting points for the new combinations than solutions of ammonic acetate. The comparison of experiment No. LI. with No. LII. is extremely interesting in reference to the dogma that phosphorus is a necessary ingredient in living matter. Solutions of the ammonic tartrate in distilled water have been twice analyzed for me by a skilled chemist, without revealing the least trace either of phosphorus or sulphur. This result is very remarkable when compared with the amount of living matter which may so soon appear in such a solution: the number of the organisms and the rapidity of their evolution, being almost equal to that which occurs in a similar solution to which a phosphate has been added. However much, therefore, phosphorus may aid the development of organisms in many fluids, there is still an important difference between many and all, which if more frequently borne in mind, would render universal propositions more scarce (see ‘Journal of Chemical Society,’ March, 1871, pp. 72–74). The truth of the dictum “Ohne Phosphor gar kein Leben,” is, I venture to think, far from being proved. If on insufficient evidence (referring only to particular fluids) such a dictum is arrived at; and if then, the presence of organisms in any fluid is to be taken as evidence of the existence of phosphorus (even though this cannot be otherwise substantiated), the case of phosphorus in relation to Life comes to be similar to the case of the much abused germs.