Page 218 - The Miracle of Electricity in the Body

216 THE MIRACLE OF ELECTRICITY IN THE BODY

experiments were conducted to prove this theory. Some wheat was
placed on a dirty piece of cloth, and it was believed that mice would
originate from it after a while.
Similarly, maggots developing in rotting meat were assumed to be
evidence of life originating from inanimate materials. However, it was
later understood that worms did not appear on meat spontaneously,
but were carried there by flies in the form of larvae, invisible to the
naked eye. At the time Darwin wrote The Origin of Species, the belief
that bacteria could come into existence from non-living matter was
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,
which disproved spontaneous generation, a cornerstone of Darwin’s
theory. In his triumphal lecture at the Sorbonne in 1864, Pasteur said:

Through his experiments, Louis Pasteur inva-
lidated the idea that “life can emerge from
inanimate matter,” on which the theory of
evolution is based.