not only in the newly-born infant, but also in the 

 fetus; e) the character and type of life of the worms 

 is specific and entirely distinguished from that of 

 other animals . 



Opponents of the spontaneous development of worms asserted 

 that worms outside the host's body take another shape from 

 that inside it. Lovetskii rejected this view with two 

 arguments: "a) land and water animals which accidentally get 

 into an animal's stomach die very soon either from digestion 

 or from extreme heat; b) transformations, with the exception 

 of insects and frogs, are not characteristic of any other 

 animals." 



Similarly, Lovetskii was not convinced that infection with 

 worms could occur through their eggs' getting into food or 

 drinking water. Thus, "the original material of their initial 

 development should be in the animals themselves . . . and this 

 development occurs in certain conditions as though a necessary 

 sequence of their organization." Spontaneous conception, 

 Lovetskii proposed, also occurs in arthropods. "The observa- 

 tions indicate," he wrote, 



that they frequently appear suddenly in people in 

 whom they were not previously present .... what 

 are those internal conditions which promote the 

 formation of worms? A scrofulous condition of the 

 juices, copious and sticky sweat remaining on the skin 

 surface, putrefactive hemolysis of the blood, and 

 others are the conditions under which a watery organic 

 material, in a condition of putrefactive fermentation 

 ... is converted into such bodies as lice. 



In no less clear a form, Lovetskii stated his corresponding 

 opinions in his article, "Properties and Sources of Infection 

 in General, and of Cholera in Particular." 52 There he described 

 in particular detail the mechanism of spontaneous infection. 

 The Naturphilosophical character of the idea of spontaneous 

 infection appears clear from his words: "That destroyed animals 

 and even plant materials are capable of conversion into embryos 

 of new living creatures is evidenced by the fact that they 



52. Lovetskii, in TELESCOPE, Part 2 (1831), pp. 52 - 74, 

 235 - 239, 354 - 382. 



179 



