BIOL 2P05 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Mollusca, Francesco Redi, Lazzaro Spallanzani
29 May 2016
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If no flies alight on meat, then no eggs laid and no maggots form. Generalization: all living matter is product of living matter as opposed to spontaneous generation. 18th century scientists could see that meat in a closed vessel will eventually putrify. He put broth into two flasks and sterilized them both by boiling the broth. (assuming that nothing will grow) One of the flasks was left open to the air. (vivifying agent??) The other flask was sealed up to keep out any organisms that might be floating in the air. Microrganisms developed only in the uncovered flask. Louis pasteur performed the same type of experiment as spallanzani, except both of his flasks allowed air to enter. One flask had a straight neck that both air and microorganisms could enter. The other flask had an s-shape neck that allowed air in, but not microorganisms. The broth in the straight neck flask became contaminated with microorganisms.
