282 BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS 
were conducted by extracting the juices of meat by boiling; 
by then enclosing the juices in vials, the latter being carefully 
corked and sealed with mastic; by subjecting the sealed 
bottles, finally, to heat, and setting them away to cool. In 
due course of time, the fluids thus treated became infected 
with microscopic life, and, inasmuch as Needham believed 
that he had killed all living germs by repeated heating, he 
concluded that the living forms had been produced by spon- 
taneous generation. 
Spallanzani.—The epoch-making researches of Spallan- 
zani, a fellow-countryman of Redi, were needed to point out 
the error in Necdham’s conclusions. Spallanzani (Fig. go) 
was one of the most emincnt men of his time. He was 
educated for the church, and, therefore, he is usually known 
under the titleof Abbé Spallanzani. He did not, however, 
actively engage in his churchly offices, but, following an innate 
love of natural science and of investigation, devoted himself 
to experiments and researches and to teaching. He was first 
a professor at Bologna, and afterward at the University of 
Pavia. He made many additions to knowledge of the 
development and the physiology of organisms, and he was 
the first to make use of glass flasks in the experimental study 
of the question of the spontaneous generation of life. 
Spallanzani thought that the experiments of Needham 
had not been conducted with sufficient care and precision; 
accordingly, he made use of glass flasks with slender necks 
which could be hermetically sealed after the nutrient fluids 
had been introduced. The vials which Needham used as 
containers were simply corked and sealed with mastic, and 
it was by no means certain that the entrance of air after 
heating had been prevented; moreover, no record was made 
by Needham of the temperature and the time of heating to 
which his bottles and fluids had been subjected. 
Spallanzani took nutrient fluids, such as the juices of vege- 
