Spontaneous generation in the 1870s: Victorian scientific naturalism and its relationship to medicine. ADAM, Alison Available from the Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA) at: http://shura.shu.ac.uk/2695/ A Sheffield Hallam University thesis This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. 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Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 SPONTANEOUS GENERATION IN THE 1870S: VICTORIAN SCIENTIFIC NATURALISM AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO MEDICINE by ALISON EVELYN ADAM BSc A thesis submitted to the Council for National Academic Awards in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Sponsoring Establishment: Dept, of Historical and Critical Studies Sheffield City Polytechnic January 1988 Abstract SPONTANEOUS GENERATION IN THE 1870S: VICTORIAN SCIENTIFIC NATURALISM AND— IlSJRELAXI.QNSHIP TQ MEDICINE Alison E. Adam In the 1870s a debate over the spontaneous generation of micro­ organisms took place in Britain. Much opposition to the doctrine of spontaneous generation came from the Victorian scientific naturalists, especially John Tyndall, Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Royal Institution, London. This thesis provides an understanding of and explanations for the beliefs surrounding the spontaneous generation debate, particularly with regard to Victorian scientific naturalism and its relationship to medicine. Spontaneous generation threatened some of the fundamental tenets of naturalism. Furthermore, Tyndall clearly related his opposition to spontaneous generation to his support for the germ theory which he used as a vehicle for advocating a scientific approach to medicine. The thesis concludes that Tyndall's campaign for scientific medicine was part of the scientific naturalists' campaign to spread the naturalistic world-view and to gain cultural leadership. The spontaneous generation debate is examined in detail. The shift in experimental paradigm away from physical conditions towards a bacteriological approach is described. Chapter 5 examines the threats an acceptance of spontaneous generation posed to naturalism in terms of evolution, protoplasm and naturalistic explanations of disease. The effects of Tyndall's campaign for the germ theory on the medical profession are described. In order to understand how scientific knowledge was introduced into medicine, Chapter 6 examines the work of key medical scientists in the field of pathology with reference to their involvement in the spontaneous generation debate and in particular the reasons for their acceptance or rejection of the germ theory. Chapter 7 shows how the spontaneous generation debate impacted the domain of public health from the 1870s-1890s by means of a detailed examination of handbooks of sanitation and hygiene. The gradual introduction of results from the spontaneous generation debate into these works demonstrates the importance of the spontaneous generation debate in forming a bridge from the medical knowledge of the 1860s to the new bacteriology of the 1880s. AGkiiQwLedge.jngn.tg I should like to thank my supervisors, Janet Cutler and Mick Worboys, not only for battling with bureaucracy when it was required, but especially for their many helpful suggestions and encouragement during the progress of this thesis. I should like to thank the Librarian of the Royal Institution, London, for permission to quote from the Tyndall Manuscripts and Lindsay Granshaw for making a copy of her dissertation available to me. Thanks are due to the staff of many libraries but especially to the staff of Manchester Central Library, where most of the work for this thesis was carried out. Particular thanks are due to my husband, Craig Adam, without whose uncomplaining support, both practical and spiritual, I could not have attempted this work. He has now proved that the "New Man" exists. CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION............................................ 1 CHAPTER 2: VICTORIAN SCIENTIFIC NATURALISM....................... 20 The Background to Naturalism.................................. 20 The Principles of Scientific Naturalism..................... 22 The Scientific Naturalists.................................... 26 Naturalism and Positivism..................................... 33 German Scientific Materialism................................. 39 Positivism, Naturalism and Materialism - Some Conclusions... 41 The Variations of Naturalism.................................. 43 Scientific Naturalism and Spontaneous Generation............ 49 CHAPTER 3: SPONTANEOUS GENERATION - THE EARLY 1870S.............. 50 Introduction.................................................... 50 Spontaneous Generation - Definitions......................... 51 The Pasteur-Pouchet Debate.................................... 54 The British Background......................................... 56 Tyndall's Early Experiments and Huxley's B.A.A.S. Address... 61 Bastian's Early Work........................................... 64 Turnip-Cheese Experiments..................................... 70 Vital Resistance............................................... 76 The Importance of Life-Cycles................................. 82 The Heat Resistance of Spores - Dallinger's and Drysdale's Experiments....................... 85 Conclusions..................................................... 86 CHAPTER 4: THE END OF THE DEBATE.................................. 88 Introduction................................................. 88 Tyndall Returns to the Debate................................. 90 The Pathological Society Debate............................... 91 Tyndall's Boiled Infusion Experiments........................ 92 Discussion and Criticisms..................................... 99 The Physico-Chemical Theory of Fermentation................... 103 Pasteur's Experiments.......................................... 105 Dallinger's Criticisms......................................... 109 Tyndall's Second Series of Experiments......................... 114 CHAPTER 4 (continued) Hay Infusion and Discontinuous Boiling....................... 117 Pasteur's Challenge............................................ 122 The Pasteur-Bastian Commission................................ 124 The Final Exchange............................................. 130 Conclusions..................................................... 131 CHAPTER 5: SPONTANEOUS GENERATION - THE ISSUES................... 135 Introduction.................................................... 135 Evolution, the Nebular Hypothesis and the Origin of Life.... 135 Protoplasm and the Physical Basis of Life.................... 149 Prayer and the Material Causes of Disease.................... 159 Conclusions..................................................... 161 CHAPTER 6: SPONTANEOUS GENERATION AND MEDICAL SCIENCE........... 163 Introduction.................................................... 163 Infectious Disease and the Germ Theory - Medical Opinion.... 164 Pathology ............ 175 William Roberts................................................ 176 John Burdon Sanderson......... 183 On the Intimate Pathology of Contagion....................... 185 Botany and Pathology........................................... 190 Burdon Sanderson's Contributions to Pathology............... 195 Henry Charlton Bastian......................................... 198 Antiseptic Surgery............................................. 205 Conclusions..................................................... 208 CHAPTER 7: THEORIES OF DISEASE AND SANITARY SCIENCE............. 211 Introduction.................................................... 211 Scientific Medicine in Britain................................ 212 Theories of Disease............................................ 217 The Sanitarians. ........................................ 223 Benjamin Ward Richardson....................................... 226 Richardson on Vivisection and Physiology..................... 227 Richardson on Disease, Vaccination and the Germ Theory 228 Handbooks of Hygiene and Sanitation - An Introduction....... 230 Tyndall's and Bastian's Experiments - Purification of Water. 232 CHAPTER 7 (continued) Speculation About the de novo Origin of Bacteria - Tyndall and Bastian............................................ 233 Newsholme, Epidemic Constitution and the Germ Theory.......... 236 Changes in Disease