SPONTANEOUS GENERATION. 45 



they have a profound significance in the discussion 

 of certain questions which shall be referred to in the 

 sequel. The principles which they admitted have 

 an importance that is far-reaching, and should be 

 more generally known than they are. For the appli- 

 cation of these principles broad and deep they 

 are will enable us to refute many objections that 

 would otherwise be unanswerable, and enable us to es- 

 cape from many difficulties which frequently give both 

 scientists and theologians no inconsiderable trouble. 



For centuries after the time of St. Thomas, the 

 theory of spontaneous generation was universally 

 held and taught in all the schools of Europe. 



And more than this. Learned men of science 

 and grave theologians did not hesitate to give in- 

 structions as to how certain animals might be 

 brought into existence by the mysterious power of 

 abiogenesis. As late as the seventeenth century, the 

 famous Jesuit scholar, Athanasius Kircher, confi- 

 dently indicated the following method of produc- 

 ing serpents by spontaneous generation : " Take as 

 many serpents as you like, dry them, cut them into 

 small pieces, bury these in damp earth, water them 

 freely with rain water, and leave the rest to the 

 spring sun. A'fter eight days the whole will turn 

 into little worms, which, fed with milk and earth, 

 will at length become perfect serpents, and by pro- 

 creation will multiply ad infinitum" Van Helmont 

 gave a recipe for making fleas, while there were 

 others who gave equally explicit directions for the 

 production of mice from cheese, or fish by the fer- 

 mentation of suitable material. 



