SPONTANEOUS GENERATION. 83 



SPONTANEOUS GENERATION. 



THE appearance of the long-promised work of Dr. Bastian on the 

 " Beginnings of Life " l will be welcomed by the students of 

 natural history as an important step forward in the progress of an 

 old and interesting controversy. Whether all the life of the earth came 

 from some primordial spark in the dim beginning, that has spread 

 in multitudinous diversity through earth, sea, and air ; or whether all 

 forms of living things sprang into perfect existence after their dis- 

 tinctive kinds by a supernatural fiat ; or whether the origination of liv- 

 ing things is still within the compass of natural operations, are ques- 

 tions equally fascinating to pursue and difficult to determine. But the 

 radical problem of the origin of life is now accepted as legitimate in 

 the field of science, and much of the world's ablest talent is profoundly 

 occupied with its investigation. "We propose to give a brief account 

 of Di\ Bastian's contribution to the inquiry, or rather to point out his 

 line of research, referring those who are interested in the subject to 

 his able work, which is now accessible to American readers. 



The doctrine that certain forms of living things originate directly 

 in the operations of Nature, without the agency of parentage, is an 

 ancient speculation. _ Three centuries before the Christian era, Aris- 

 totle believed in the spontaneous origination of eels and other fish out 

 of the slimy mud of rivers and marshes; also, that certain insects 

 took origin from the vernal dew on plants ; and that lice were sponta- 

 neously engendered in the flesh of animals. He believed also that 

 animals might proceed from vegetables that the caterpillars of cer- 

 tain butterflies, for instance, were actually the products of the plants 

 upon which they fed. To the authority of Aristotle, which was des- 

 potic in the schools for nearly two thousand years, was added in this 

 case the influence of poetry by which the Aristotlean science was pop- 

 ularized. Ovid, who is reputed to have been forty-three years old at 

 the Christian era, sung of spontaneous generation as follows Dryden 

 being responsible for the English : 



" The rest of animals from teeming earth 

 Produced, in various forms received their hirth. 

 The native moisture, in its close retreat 

 Digested by the sun's ethereal heat 

 As in a kindly womb, began to breed, 

 Then swelled and quickened by the vital seed ; 

 And some in less, and some in longer space, 

 Were ripened into form and took a several face. 



1 " The Beginnings of Life ; being some Account of the Nature, Modes of Origin, and 

 Transformations of Lower Organisms." By H. Charlton Bastian, M. A., II. D., F. R. S. 

 In two volumes, pp. 1200 ; with numerous Illustrations. 



