"' speaks of 

 bull. 



Possibility of 



y ^I'ganized 

 ^ out of in. 



the middle 

 tristotle was 

 at he had 



for 



many 



;he modern 

 trious phj- 



;e. 



d; 



find; 



► 



I 



> 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



255 



r ' 1 



sician and 



William Harvey, 



discoverer 



of the circulation of the blood. 



modern 



of development (Epigenesis) dates from a celebrated 



Harvey, entitled Exercitathnes de Gene- 



treatise 



Antmalium 



to have taught the doctrine of the continuity of Life 

 on our globe, as opposed to views concerning its de 



novo origination. 



But although, apparently, a dis- 

 believer in the doctrine that living things could take 



lis (Archebiosis), Harvey 



Burdach said 1 : 



r in Heterogenesis. On this subject 

 •The rallying-cry of the adversaries 

 of spontaneous generation is the following sentence, 

 resting upon classical authority : omne vivum ex ovo. 



w 



But they can only quote this sentence in support of 

 their opinion by neglecting the spirit and fixing merely 

 upon the letter of what was said. Valentin has 

 already called attention to the fact that Harvey him- 

 self, far from wishing to deny thereby all spontaneous 

 generation, used the word "egg 

 designate a substance capable of germinating — that is 

 to say, for every kind of matter which develops immedi- 

 ately into an organised body— and that, consequently, 

 he extended this denomination even to the substance 

 called « primordial mucus 2." ' It seems quite certain, 

 from many passages in Harvey's writings, that he was 



H 



^ 



'Traits de Phys'ologie/ 2nd edition, 1837, t. i. p. 10. 

 ^ This is the name given by Burdach to the pellicle which forms on 

 oi*ganic infusions. 



3^ 



term 



