The evolution of life / by H. Charlton Bastian.

  • Henry Charlton Bastian
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The evolution of life / by H. Charlton Bastian. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    any instances to the contrary, we should have known of them. But it was only by an utter in- attention to this latter all-important proviso that the past experience of mankind could ever have appeared to warrant the truth of the induction omne vivum ex vivo. Living matter may have been continually coming into being all over the surface of the earth ever since the time of man's first appearance upon it; and yet the fact that no member of the human race has ever seen (or is ever likely to see) such a birth, need throw no shadow of doubt upon the probability of its occurrence. Neither of these general considerations, therefore, however weighty they may at first seem to be, ought to have much effect in influencing the opinions of scientific men as to whether Archebiosis does or does not occur. Whatever influence they may have had in creating a kind of intellectual atmosphere favourable to disbelief, something more was needed to lead to a definite opinion against the present occurrence of anything that could be called spontaneous generation. This finally determin- ing element was the view taken concerning the results of experiments that had been made in relation to the question—and especially the results published in a celebrated memoir issued by Pasteur in 1862,^ Neither Darwin, Huxley, nor Spencer ever undertook any experimental work on this subject themselves, and probably the opinions of Darwin ^ Ann. de Chim. et de Physique^ T. Ixiv. pp. 5-110.
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