-
330
The Birth of Spontaneous Generation
Aristotle believes that all living organisms are created by the four terrestrial elements. In History of Animals, Aristotle states how some animals spring from parents animals whilst others grow spontaneously and not from kindred stock. -
Mar 1, 600
Early View on Spontaneous Generation: Anaximander
Anaximander in the third century CE claimed that living creatures were formed in the “Wet” when shined on the by the sun, and that they were different then than they are now. Specifically, he claimed that humans were originally a kind of fish, and that due to the fact that humans take a long time to mature to independence, humans must’ve been born like other animals, or they wouldn’t have survived. -
Spontaneous Generation of Mice
The first true spontaneous generation was reported by Johannes Baptista van Helmont through Mice. He believes that mice arose when a flask of wheat and old rags was incubated in a warm dark closet. -
Redi Attack
The first attack on the spontaneous generation theory was through Francisco Redi’s belief that maggots did not arise spontaneously, but from eggs laid by adult flies. In his experiment, he had two flasks with dead meat. Flies were seen entering and leaving the open flask and the meat and fish in them became wormy. While in the closed flask, there were no worms. Though he believed that he had disproved spontaneous generation, the public eye still remained firmly on the theory. -
Defence on the Spontaneous Generation
In 1750, Needham, an accomplished microscopist and Buffon, a french naturalist decided to defend the spontaneous generation by disproving the work of Louis Joblot. The two scientists knew that boiling could kill microorganisms so they tested if microorganisms still grew after boiling. They experimented with boiled broth, put it in a container, sealed it, and waited. Later, the microorganisms did grow and they proved that boiled or not, sealed or not, life will still rise. -
Spallanzani’s Dissaproval
Lazzaro Spallanzani, an Italian priest, disagreed and set about disproving Needham and Buffon’s results. He believed that microorganisms had entered the broth from the air and after the broth was boiled, but before it was sealed. He placed the chicken broth in a flask, sealed it and drew off the air, then boiled the broth. No microorganisms grew. This proved that spontaneous generation could not occur without air. But this did not stop the public from believing this theory. -
Living Organism: Yeast
In 1837-8, three researchers Cagniard-Latour, Friedrich Kutzing, and Schwann found that yeast were a living organism. They established that yeast causes the decomposition of sugar when alive, and not when dead. -
The End of Spontaneous Generation?
The French Academy of Science offered 2500 francs to Louis Pasteur when he won the Alhumbert Prize for proving the spontaneous generation wrong. His experimented mirrored Needham and Spallanzi where he boiled broth in a flask. Overtime, the broken flask quickly became cloudy, however the broth in the unbroken flask remained clear. This experimented concluded that spontaneous generation did not exist. -
Evolution and Abiogenesis
T.H. Huxley expressed the belief that life was formed from a fluid found in cells called “protoplasm” and gave his lecture on “abiogenesis and biogenesis”. This lecture and his belief provided support for Pasteur’s disproval of spontaneous generation.
