56 DEATH AND RESURRECTI ON. 



turn has been given to it Hitherto the 

 only question has been: Is Harvey's 

 formula a fact verified by natural 

 science or not? In this form the battle 

 has raged for over two centuries, often 

 with great vehemence, and victory has 

 leaned now to one side, now to the 

 other. Finally, it was agreed that 

 parentless generation was not to be 

 found among the higher forms of ani- 

 mals and plants which could be ob- 

 served with the naked eye. Biichner 

 himself says it has not hitherto been 

 discovered that any higher or more de- 

 veloped organism may be created by 

 inorganic matter and forces alone. 



"Today," he says, "it seems to be a 

 general law of the inorganic world that 

 everything living originates from a 

 parental embryo or else is directly 

 segregated from the mother-body." 



But although spontaneous generation 

 of the higher animals and plants 

 seemed doubtful even to Biichner, noth- 

 ing was at this time settled in regard 

 to the origin of the lower organisms. 



