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From the time of the Ancient Romans, through the Middle Ages, and until the late nineteenth century, it was generally accepted that life arose spontaneously from non-living matter. Such "spontaneous generation" appeared to occur primarily in decaying matter. For example, a seventeenth century idea for the spontaneous generation of mice required placing sweaty underwear and husks of wheat in an open-mouthed jar. Then, waiting for about 21 days, during which time it was said that the sweat from the underwear would penetrate the husks of wheat, changing them into mice. Although that idea may seem ridiculous today, that and other ideas like it were believed and accepted during that time, which was not too long ago.



The first serious attack on the idea of spontaneous generation was made in 1668 by Francesco Redi, an Italian physician and poet. At that time, it was thought that maggots arose spontaneously in rotting meat. Redi believed that maggots developed from eggs laid by......

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