44 B VOL UTION A ND DOGMA . 



creatures were born. And even now many animals 

 spring forth from the earth, which are generated by 

 means of moisture and the quickening heat of the 

 sun." 1 



Fathers and Schoolmen on Abiogenesis. 



The views of Aristotle and his successors were 

 accepted and taught by the Fathers and the School- 

 men of the Middle Ages. St. Augustine, in discuss- 

 ing the question whether certain small animals were 

 created on the fifth or sixth day, or whether they 

 arose from putrid matter, says : " Many small ani- 

 mals originate from unhealthy vapors, from evapora- 

 tions from the earth, or from corpses ; some also 

 from decayed woods, herbs and fruits. But God is 

 the creator of all things. It may, therefore, be said 

 that those animals which sprang from the bodies, 

 and especially the corpses, of other living beings, 

 were only created with them potentialiter and mater- 

 ialiter. But of those which spring from the earth, 

 or water, we may unhesitatingly say that they were 

 created on the fifth and sixth days." St. Thomas 

 Aquinas acquiesces in this opinion of the great 

 bishop of Hippo, although he declined to accept 

 Avicenna's theory that all animals could originate 

 spontaneously. 



I direct special attention to the teachings of the 

 Fathers and Schoolmen regarding abiogenesis, as 



" Linquitur, ut merito maternum nomen adepta 

 Terra sit, e terra quoniam sunt cuncta creata, 

 Multaque nunc etiam existant animalia terris 

 Imbribus, et calido solis concreta vapore." 



Lucretius, "De Rerum Natura," Lib. V. 793-796. 



