Fermentation and Kindred Phenomena. 81 



favourable conditions, of which putrefaction was one of the most 

 important, animals could be produced without parents." 



The ancients were deeply imbued with this idea, and we find 

 it again and again discussed or spoken of in their writings ; 

 whilst in the Bible itself we find passages which evidently refer 

 to it. Lucretius said — " With good reason the earth has gotten 

 the name of mother, since all things are produced out of the 

 earth, and many living creatures even now spring out of it, 

 taking form by the rains and the heat of the sun." The great 

 philosopher Aristotle maintained that every dry substance 

 which becomes moist, and every moist substance which becomes 

 dry, produces living creatures, provided it is fit for their 

 nourishment. The famous riddle with which Samson perplexed 

 the Philistines : " Out of the eater came forth meat, out of the 

 strong came forth sweetness," evidently expressed the idea that 

 the bees which Samson found in the carcass of the lion he had 

 killed had been produced out of the carcass. Indeed, the idea 

 that bees could be produced artificially from the dead bodies 

 of animals was believed in implicitly by the ancients, and we 

 find a complete description of the method to be adopted in the 

 Georgics of Virgil ! 



It is not hard to understand how in primitive times insects 

 appeared to be generated spontaneously from corrupting matter, 

 but on the other hand it is very difficult to imagine how the 

 notion could have originated that the higher animals could be 

 produced artificially. That such a belief prevailed is certain, 

 for we find Van Helmont, a chemist of the 16th century, giving 

 directions for manufacturing mice, and he even went so far as 

 to maintain that fish are produced out of water. 



Even in contemporaneous times the notion of spontaneous 

 generation has found plenty of supporters, and it is not many 

 years ago since it was gravely announced that a new insect — the 

 acarus electricus (for it was even christened !) had been produced 

 by means of the electric current, and I have often been told in 

 country places that if horse hairs are placed in water each 

 separate hair will become an eel ! 



The first to combat the doctrine of spontaneous generation 



