> 1. We both put $10,000.00 in escrow with the following instructions:
> 2. If I do not deposit, in five working days from the opening of
> escrow, the Encyclopaedia Britannica that says, "SPONTANEOUS GENERATION,
> in biology, is the theory, now disproved, that living organisms
> sometimes arise from nonliving matter. It is sometimes referred to as
> abiogenesis, as opposed to biogenesis, the now-established fact that
> living organisms arise only from the reproduction of previously existing
> organisms." then you collect the $20,000.00.
For what it's worth, below is the *only* hit on the Britannica CD 98 for
"abiogenesis". Spontaneous generation and experiments on the origin of life
have more. As a biologist and student of the history of science, I would be
very surprised (and disappointed) if the statement quoted above appeared in
Britannica. I don't see how abiogenesis, as used today, could be
categorically "disproved" as stated above. Furthermore, associating
abiogenesis (as used today) with the historical experiments disproving
spontaneous generation is a mistake since none of these experiments were
designed to test such a concept, as can be seen in the brief description in
the article below.
"SPONTANEOUS GENERATION, also called ABIOGENESIS, the hypothetical process
by which living organisms develop from nonliving matter; also, the archaic
theory that utilizes this process to explain the origin of life. Pieces of
cheese and bread wrapped in rags and left in a dark corner, for example,
were thus thought to produce mice, according to this theory, because after
several weeks, there were mice in the rags. Many believed in spontaneous
generation because it explained such occurrences as the appearance of
maggots on decaying meat.
By the 18th century it had become obvious that higher organisms could not be
produced by nonliving material. The origin of microorganisms such as
bacteria, however, was not fully determined until Pasteur proved in the 19th
century that microorganisms reproduce. See also biopoiesis.
Copyright 1994-1998 Encyclopaedia Britannica"
Don Frack
dcfrack@sowest.net