To question this is
to question reason, sense and experience. If he doubts this let him go
to Egypt, and there he will find the fields swarming with mice, begot of
the mud of Nylus, to the great calamity of the in-habitants."[8]
[Footnote 8: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. I, p. 64.]
When we remember that such nonsense constituted the wisdom of the
scientific world only about two centuries ago, we begin to realize the
fact that the doctrine of Biogenesis is indeed a very modern doctrine.
But it may be well to ask in passing, How could the people of former
ages understand or appreciate the great truth of Creation as we moderns
are able to do?
The first important step toward the refutation of this old pagan
doctrine of spontaneous generation was made by the Italian, Redi, in
1668. He noticed that flies are always present around decomposing meat
before the appearance of maggots, and he devised an experiment to keep
the flies away from actual contact with the meat. The meat putrified as
usual, but did not breed maggots; while the same kind of meat exposed
in open jars swarmed with them. He next placed some meat in a jar with
some wire gauze over the top. The flies were attracted by the smell of
the meat as usual, but could not reach the meat.
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