6 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



Even so long as 150 years ago simple experi- 

 ments of a kind akin to those described in the present 

 work began to be made in this country by Turber- 

 ville Needham (who very shortly thereafter was 

 elected a Fellow of the Royal Society), and in 

 Italy by the Abbe Spallanzani, with a view to sec- 

 ing whether any distinct evidence could be obtained 

 of a de novo origin of living things in certain 

 infusions of organic matter. 



After a considerable interval, that is in 1837, 

 similar investigations were set on foot in Germany 

 by Schultze and Schwann, and later (1851) in 

 Italy by Professor Mantegazza. The question 

 was taken up again in Germany in 1854 by 

 Schroeder and Dusch, while about seven years 

 later a celebrated controversy was commenced in 

 France, and carried on for some time between 

 Pasteur, Pouchet, Joly, Musset, Trecul, Fremy, 

 and others, in reference to the same question 

 Pasteur denying and the others adducing evidence 

 in favour of the occurrence of " spontaneous 

 generation." 



A similar experimental enquiry was initiated by 

 Professor Jeffries Wyman in America in 1861, and 

 was renewed in Italy in 1868 by Professors Can- 

 toni, Balsami, and Maggi; and each of these last 



