Fundamentals Of Microbiology 10th Edition by Jeffrey Pommerville

Exercise 4

Felix Pouchet was a French biologist and science writer who believed in spontaneous generation. As such, he was often in debate with Pasteur because he was not convinced that Pasteur's experiments refuted the idea of spontaneous generation. As proof, Pouchet set up a series of swan-necked flasks identical to those used by Pasteur to refute spontaneous generation. He then filled the flasks with a broth made from hay, boiled the flasks for one hour, and allowed them to cool. Everything was identical to Pasteur's experiments except Pasteur used a sugar and yeast extract broth and only boiled the flasks for a few minutes.
In all cases, Pouchet saw growth of microorganisms in all his flasks, even with boiling for one hour. Propose a solution for the contradictory results of Pasteur and Pouchet, knowing that (a) what both scientists saw was valid and correct, and (b) spontaneous generation does not occur.
If you remain stumped, check out the short paper entitled: John Tyndall and the Spontaneous Generation Debate ( Microbiology Today, November 2005-http:www.sgm.ac.uk/pubs/micro_today/pdf/110501.pdf ).