LIFE SCIENCE

Viewpoint: Yes, prior to the nineteenth century, many scientists believed that infusoria are produced by spontaneous generation.

Viewpoint: No, experiments by Louis Pasteur in the nineteenth century confirmed that infusoria are not produced by spontaneous generation.

As suggested by the term "Mother Earth," many ancient cultures shared the assumption that the earth is a nurturing organism, capable of giving birth to living creatures. From the earliest systems of religion and philosophy up to the seventeenth century, belief in the spontaneous generation of living beings from nonliving matter was almost universal. The doctrine of spontaneous generation generally was applied to the lowest creatures, parasites, and vermin of all sorts, which often appeared suddenly from no known parents.

Since the time of the Greek philosopher Aristotle...