Page 216 - The Miracle of Hormones

THE MIRACLE OF HORMONES

mice would originate from
it after a while.
Similarly, maggots
developing in rotting meat
was assumed to be evi-
dence of spontaneous gen-
eration. However, it was
later understood that
worms did not appear on
meat spontaneously, but
were carried there by flies
in the form of larvae, invis-
ible to the naked eye.
Even when Darwin
wrote The Origin of Species,
the belief that bacteria
Louis Pasteur destroyed the belief that life
could come into existence
could be created from inanimate sub-
from non-living matter was stances.
widely accepted in the
world of science.
However, five years after the publication of Darwin's book, Louis
Pasteur announced his results after long studies and experiments, that
disproved spontaneous generation, a cornerstone of Darwin's theory. In
his triumphal lecture at the Sorbonne in 1864, Pasteur said: "Never will
the doctrine of spontaneous generation recover from the mortal blow
struck by this simple experiment." 82
For a long time, advocates of the theory of evolution resisted these
findings. However, as the development of science unraveled the complex
structure of the cell of a living being, the idea that life could come into
being coincidentally faced an even greater impasse.

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