Sparks of life: Darwinism and the Victorian debates over spontaneous generation

Abstract

Introduction Early History Needham versus Spallanzani Worms, Molecules, and Evolution Note on Terminology Why Another Study of the Spontaneous Generation Debates? 1 Spontaneous Generation and Early Victorian Science The Standard Story of the British Debates Bastian and Burdon Sanderson Criticisms of Bastian by Lankester and Roberts The Germ Theory of Disease The Role of Heat-Resistant Spores Major Victorian Scientists through the 1860s 2 MolecularTheories and the Conversion of Owen and Bennett Brownian Movement and Owen's Role in Developing Ideas on Spontaneous Generation John Hughes Bennett and Histological Molecules Owen's Change and the Darwinians Bennett's Conversion to Spontaneous Generation Further Response to Owen's Conversion 3 Bastian as Rising Star Bastian's Background Bastian Enters the Spontaneous Generation Debate Wallace and Darwin Discuss Bastian Further Support for Bastian 4 Initial Confrontation with the X Club: 1870-1873 Huxley's Tightrope Act Huxley's Attitude toward Young Men of Talent Huxley Turns against Bastian Brownian Movement and Other Rhetorical Devices The Younger Darwinians Bastian, Huxley, and the Royal Society E. Ray Lankester and Bastian 5 Colloids, PleomorphicTheories, and Cell Theories: A State of Flux Thomas Graham and Colloids Conservation of Energy and Correlation of Forces Cell Theory and the Demise of Brownian Movement Revisited Life Cycles in Infusorial Monads Pleomorphist Theories of Bacteria 6 Germ Theories and the British Medical Community The Cattle Plague of 1865-66 and Germ Theories Tyndall, the Germ Theory, and the Medical Community Support in the Medical Community for Bastian The Pathological Society Debate of April 1875 The Physiological Society 7 Purity and Contamination: Tyndall's Campaign as the Final Blow Tyndall's A Priori Commitments Embarking on the Quest and Recruiting Support The Exact Sciences versus the Biomedical Sciences The X Club and the Royal Society Spores: Tough Allies to Kill Convincing Pasteur: Urine Proves a Weak Ally Conclusions Epilogue, 1880 through 1915 Glossary Timeline Cast of Characters Notes Sources Index