A Brief History
On April 20, 1862, French scientists Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard proved that Aristotle was wrong!
Digging Deeper
The state of science thousands of years ago was somewhat more primitive than today.
Ancient people did not have microscopes, X-rays, CT Scans, gas chromatography, chemical tests, electron microscopes, centrifuges, and had not even developed the so called scientific method to test theories.
People believed the Brandt Goose came from barnacles by that name, and a common belief was that maggots came from dead flesh. They did not understand microbes, DNA, or the Atomic Theory.
Aristotle, the tutor of Alexander the Great, was considered one of the great thinkers of his day, but without all the modern advantages listed above he was bound to come to wrong conclusions.
Aristotle believed that organisms could arise spontaneously from favorable conditions, such as the maggots from dead flesh, fleas from dust, and that although many plants originated from seeds, some plants would just show up without seeds if the soil and moisture was right. There was no understanding that parasites laid eggs in the host animal or person. The ancients just thought they somehow sprang up just because of conditions. Incredibly, the prevailing thought that rats and mice just magically appeared where they could live and find food persisted until the Pasteur experiments! (Seriously, people did not notice small rodents giving birth just like people, dogs, etc.?)
During the 1600’s and 1700’s many scientists performed a variety of experiments to prove or disprove the spontaneous generation theory, but none was widely publicized and successful until Pasteur. Even then, doubts persisted! It seems the fact that some bacteria are not killed by boiling confused the experimenters.
Today we know all about microbes, spores, tiny seeds, and where parasites come from, but undoubtedly at some point in the future people will be reading an historical website (History and Headlines?) about how the primitive minds back in 2014 believed such ridiculous “facts!”
Question for students (and subscribers): What accepted facts today are going to be proven wrong? Can you name one? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Birch, Beverly and Christian Birmingham. Pasteur’s Fight Against Microbes (Science Stories). Barron’s Educational Series, 1996.
Denman, Michael L. and John Hudson Tiner. Louis Pasteur: Founder of Modern Medicine (Sowers.). Mott Media, 1999.
