Microbiology is the branch of Biology that deals with the study of microorganisms and how they influence or work with other living organisms. (Satellite Events Enterprises Inc., 1999) In this paper I will discuss the history of Microbiology and specifically the early theory of spontaneous generation. I will discuss three spontaneous generation experiments and explain why it is obsolete in today’s science.History of MicrobiologySince Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, it is understandable that this form of Biology did not exist until people developed the tools that could assist us to study those tiny organisms that cannot be seen by the naked eye.
In the year 1590, the very early microscope was invented. (Satellite Events Enterprises Inc., 1999) This tool made it easy to see microscopic organisms that people were unable to ever seen before.The first time that the microscope was used to in a study was in the early 1660’s by the English Scientist Robert Hooke. Hooke examined plants and that is when he first saw what we now know as cells. (Satellite Events Enterprises Inc.
, 1999) Up until this point, no one knew there was more to a living thing than just what was visible to the eye. Other Scientist continued to use the microscope to make further discoveries, later identifying bacteria. All of these discoveries of coarse are the building blocks to what we know today as Microbiology.Spontaneous GenerationPrior to the knowledge brought about by the invention of the microscope, people relied mostly on what they could see and their faith. Religious beliefs and the culture of the time was what people went on.
As a result, Spontaneous Generation was a widely accepted theory in the middle ages and into the 19th century. Because people could not see microorganisms and microscopic living things, there would be no reason that people would think that they were there and therefore they created theories based on what they did know and what they could see.Spontaneous Generation is the idea that something living could be made out of non-living matter. This was also referred to as the theory of the origin of life. (Levine & Evers, n.d.
) This theory is more than obsolete today as our knowledge of how living things come into existence is much greater than it was back when this theory was popular. In its time, people did believe it as it made sense based on what they could see.One example of why people thought Spontaneous Generation was real was the generation of mice. It was believed that mice were made by placing the husk of wheat along with sweaty clothing in an open mouthed jars for at least 21 days. After doing so, mice would appear, thought to be made by the sweat from the clothing soaking into the husks. (Levine & Evers, n.
d.) Although, living today we know that while this concoction may have attracted mice to it, it certainly did not create them.The idea of Spontaneous Generation fit well into its time when people believed that God was present on Earth. There were a lot of experiments besides the mice that people used to support the idea of Spontaneous Generation. There was the creation of maggots by leaving out raw meat that too was later disproven.
(The Microbial World, n.d.)Disproving Spontaneous GenerationThere were a lot of people out there that were looking to disprove the origin of life theory. There were experiments conducted, some were successful and some were not. One of the experiments was performed by Francesco Redi, and Italian Scientist, in 1668.
He was trying to disprove the maggot theory where it was thought that maggot were created by leaving out raw meat. (Pearson Education, n.d.)Redi left out two pieces of raw meat in open jars. One jar was left uncovered and the other jar had a piece of cloth over it. After a few days, maggots had come on to the uncovered piece of meat while the one that was covered did not.
Although there were maggots on the outside of the jar with the cloth on it. Redi had proven that the maggots were not being formed by the meat being left out but it the rotting meat was attracting flies to it which then were laying eggs. (Pearson Education, n.d.
)Those who were big believers of Spontaneous Generation were not happy to hear that the theory had been disproven. One such scientist, John Needham tried to disprove Redi’s findings by doing an experiment of his own. He placed some broth in a bottle and heated it which was thought to kill all things that may have been inside, he then sealed the bottle. After leaving the bottle for a few days, he reported life growing in the sealed bottle.
Although it was later found that he did not heat it to the correct temperature so he did not end up proving Redi wrong. (Pearson Education, n.d.)Needham’s experiment was proven wrong by Lazzaro Spallanzani, an Italian scientist who had read about Needham’s and Redi’s work.
Like Redi, his goal was to prove that Spontaneous Generation was not real. Going along the same lines at Needham, he used boiling broth. He boiled two bottles of broth and then left one unsealed and the other sealed for a few days. When he came back he found that the sealed bottle did not have any living things in it while the unsealed bottle had a lot of living things in it.
(Pearson Education, n.d.) This proved that Spontaneous Generation did not exist.French scientist Lois Pasteur took Spallanzani’s broth experiment once step further by creating bottles with curved necks which pointed down to boil the broth in. The necks on these bottles prevented air from getting into the bottle.
Pasteur then filled the bottles with broth and brought them to a boil. Even after leaving these specially made bottle uncovered for almost a year, no living things had developed in the bottles. To test his theory further, Pasteur broke off the necks of the bottles and left them still uncovered. After only a few days he recorded the presence of life in the bottle. (Pearson Education, n.
d.) Pasteur’s experiment proved that it was not Spontaneous Generation that was happening in these bottles but it was that the living things were already present in the air and the broth was being exposed to them by being uncovered.Spontaneous Generation Obsolete TodayLooking back on some of the experiments that people thought proved Spontaneous Generation seem more than absurd with the knowledge today, though it is completely understandable how they came to think that way. If you left out rotting meat, maggots would appear out of nowhere and if you left out sweaty clothes and wheat husks mice would appear, or so it seemed. Of course we know better today.
We know that these “recipes” would attract these things but they would in no way create them.With tools such as the microscope, people were able to look closer into what they were studying. We now know that there are things that we cannot see such as cells and bacteria. These things exist all around us and are active all the time.
Although we have the power to prevent these living things from finding a home in our leftovers, we cannot create life out of non-living things.In conclusion, Spontaneous Generation was a widely popular theory that existed in a time when religion and cultural norms supported it. Once people had the tools to learn more about their surroundings, such as the microscope, it was natural that more people started to question if it was a valid theory. Of course, today we know that it was not.
