THAT A DECAYING CARCASS BREEDS WORMS 



HIS erroneous belief was much more prevalent 

 half a century ago than it is to-day. In the 

 olden time it was commonly held that all kinds 

 of creatures might be "generated," as it was 

 termed, out of decaying matter, and it was supposed that 

 animals of even such a high degree of development as birds 

 might be evolved, in a single generation out of some lower 

 form. Thus the barnacle goose was said to be a metamor- 

 phosed barnacle, the latter being a marine animal of no very 

 high grade. 



And Virgil in his poem on country matters gives minute 

 directions for raising a swarm of bees out of a dead carcass. 

 It is very certain, however, that no swarm was ever raised 

 in this way. 



So too Shakespeare makes Lepidus say: "Your serpent 

 of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of 

 your sun; so is your crocodile" ("Antony and Cleopatra," 

 Act II, Scene 7, line 29). 



And his audiences probably did not doubt the state- 

 ment even in regard to such a highly developed animal 

 as the crocodile. But it is no wonder that such opinions 

 should prevail generally amongst the people at large, for 

 everywhere we see life developing under conditions and 

 in ways which hide their origin from the ordinary observer 

 because he has not been taught to direct his attention to 

 them. He sees the larvae or worms which are devouring 

 the dead carcass, but he did not see the minute eggs from 



207 



