GERM THEORY • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Germ theory

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noun

Germ theory n.

(Biol.) The theory that living organisms can be produced only by the development of living germs. Cf. Biogenesis, Abiogenesis.

(Med.) The theory which attributes contagious and infectious diseases, suppurative lesions, etc., to the agency of germs, i.e. pathogenic microorganisms. The science of bacteriology was developed after this theory had been established.

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Etymology of 'Germ theory'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Germ theory" Quotes from Famous Books

... electrochemical civilization developed and they began working with nuclear energy and developed reaction-drive spaceships. But they'd concentrated so on the inorganic sciences, and so far neglected the bio-sciences, that when they launched their first ship for Venus they hadn't yet developed a germ theory of disease." ...

— Time Crime • H. Beam Piper

... derivation of life from precedent life, and professed his belief, as an act of philosophic faith, that at some remote period, life had arisen out of inanimate matter, though there was no evidence that anything of the sort had occurred recently, the germ theory explaining many supposed cases of spontaneous generation. The history of the subject, indeed, showed] "the great tragedy of Science—the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact—which is so constantly being enacted under the eyes of philosophers," and recalled the warning "that it is ...

— The Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley Volume 2 • Leonard Huxley

Words linked to "Germ theory" : medical specialty, scientific theory