SPONTANEOUS GENERATION OF ORGANISMS

The Theory of Spontaneous Generation or Abiogenesis states that the microbes arise automatically in decomposing organic matter.

 In the 17th century Francesco Redi worked out the appearance of maggots in decomposing meat dependend on  the decomposition of eggs by flies,but the idea of spontaneous generation persisted for the new world of microbes. T.Needham in 1748 experienced the appearance of organisms not present previously and concluded that these organisms appeared from the decomposition of the vegetables and meat. Later Spallanzani (1729-1799) introduced the the use of sterile culture media;he showed that infusion of meat,would remain clear indifinitely if boiled and properly sealed.

 The discovery was later on confirmed in the early 19th century,when a French confectioner,Nicholas Appert,competing for a prize by Napolean,developed the art of preserving food by  canning. In 1837, Schwann obtained similar results even when air was allowed to re-enter the cooling flask before sealing. Preliminary reports on experiments concerning alcoholic fermentation and purification were given by Schwann(1837) and Liebig(1839).

 To give more weightage, Schroder and Von Dusch applied the use of cotton plug,to exclude air borne contaminants which is still in use.