2 THEORIES OF SPONTANEOUS GENERATION 



beliefs were held. For example, in China in remote times 

 people believed that aphids would grow by spontaneous 

 generation on bamboos if the young shoots were planted out 

 in warm moist weather. In the Indian holy books there are 

 also references to the sudden appearance of various parasites, 

 flies and beetles from sweat and dung. In the cuneiform 

 writings of Babylon one may read that the mud of canals 

 forms Avorms and other animals from its substance.^ 



In ancient Egypt the view prevailed that the layer of silt 

 left behind after the flooding of the Nile could give rise to 

 living creatures when it was warmed a little by the sun. 

 Frogs, toads, snakes and mice could originate in this way. 

 In this case one might easily convince oneself by direct 

 observation that the front part seemed already finished and 

 alive while the hind part still consisted of undifferentiated 

 damp earth. 



We also find a repetition of these tales among the ancient 

 Greeks (e.g. Diogenes Apolloniates) and in the writings of 

 the famous Roman sage, Pliny. Such stories were widely 

 current both in the East and the West, in the Middle Ages 

 and far more recently. Shakespeare's audiences were not 

 surprised when Lepidus, in Antony and Cleopatra, asserted 

 that in Egypt crocodiles are produced from the mud of the 

 Nile under the influence of the warm southern sun.^ 



In general, it appears to be highly characteristic of the 

 history of spontaneous generation that among diverse peoples 

 living at different times and at different cultural stages, w^e 

 almost ahvays find stories of the spontaneous develop- 

 ment of organisms of one kind or another. Here maggots 

 arise from dung and rotting meat, here lice form themselves 

 from human sw^eat, here fireflies are born from the sparks 

 of a funeral pyre, and finally, frogs and mice originate from 

 dew and damp earth. Wherever man has met with the un- 

 expected and exuberant appearance of living things he has 

 regarded it as an instance of the spontaneous generation of 

 life. Among the ancient peoples the belief in spontaneous 

 generation did not arise as a consequence of any particular 

 philosophy. For them spontaneous generation was simply an 

 obvious, empirically established fact the theoretical basis of 

 which was of secondary importance. 



