BUFFON, NEEDHAM, SPALLANZANI, ETC. 87 



curred by chance, without any order or regulation, it 

 had been possible to believe that the organisms which 

 accompanied them were also due to the spontaneous 

 organization of the elements of the meat undergoing 

 putrefaction, or of the organic matter added to the 

 liquids of fermentation. But as soon as these fermenta- 

 tions and the organisms which produced them assumed 

 something of a specific nature, there was something 

 strange in making them come into existence spontane- 

 ously. Why should chance create species endowed with 

 hereditary properties? Why should it create certain 

 organisms and not others? 



The knowledge of fermentations which Pasteur had just 

 acquired forced him, therefore, to deny the hypothesis of 

 spontaneous generations. He observed, furthermore, 

 that after having abandoned all pretense of explaining the 

 origin of animals visible to the naked eye, and thus 

 accessible to experiment, this hypothesis had limited its 

 domain to the realm of microscopic organisms whose 

 minuteness precluded all exact scientific research. But 

 in this quarter he had had some experience and could 

 hope to escape some of the difficulties which his predeces- 

 sors had encountered. In spite of the advice of M. 

 Dumas, he, therefore, approached this subject with 

 confidence. 



II 



BUFFON, NEEDHAM, SPALLANZANI, SCHULTZE, 

 SCHWANN, SCHROEDER AND DUSCH 



Like the question of fermentations, the question of 

 spontaneous generations had for long years been the 

 subject of philosophical speculations and oratorical 

 dissertations. Buffon had treated it with solemnity. 

 How remain indifferent in the presence of the very 



