Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 2013

HENRY CHARLTON BASTIAN (1837-1915) Evolution and the origin of life. Macmillan 1874 xv, 186 [6] pp., front. 18.5 cm.

Bastian, one of the founders of English neurology, made valuable contributions through his studies on aphasia, localization of the auditory and visual centers, the paralyses, diseases of the brain, word deafness, and word blindness. He is best remembered for formulating Bastian's law, which recognizes that a transverse lesion of the spinal cord above the lumbar enlargement results in abolition of the tendon reflexes of the lower extremities. It is surprising that Bastian should have, in his time, rejected the germ theory and supported the old idea of spontaneous generation. Bastian comments in the Preface of this book that "Well-informed men of science no longer doubt that swarms of Bacteria can be made to appear within sealed glass vessels containing suitable fluids, after the vessels and their contents have been exposed to the temperature of boiling water. . . . The results were discredited because it was a generally accepted belief amongst men of science that exposure to the temperature of boiling water would have killed all pre-existing Living Matter within the flasks. And this being the case, the appearance of swarms of Bacteria in the experimental fluids in the course of a few days could only be explained by the supposition that what has been called 'Spontaneous Generation' had occurred." Both in this work and in The beginnings of life (1872), Bastian argued that evolutionists must accept the abiogenetic origin of life. However, many evolutionists, including Darwin (see 1724 ff.) and Huxley (see No. 1924), remained largely uncommitted over the question of spontaneous generation. The University of Iowa Libraries' copy is an author's presentation copy.

See Related Record(s): 1724 1924

Gift of John Martin, M.D.