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The idea that life forms can spring from inorganic matter is known as spontaneous generation. Aristotle was the chief Western proponent of this belief which was difficult to dislodge because most people had great difficulty in understanding how tiny insects, for instance, could appear as if from nothing.

As a matter of fact, Pasteur did not entirely succeed in providing the required proof; however, he did lead the way. By boiling the beef broth in the flask he left the broth unchanged but extinguished the microbial life in it-or at least most of it. Doubters were pushed to the conclusion that there could be no such thing as spontaneous generation, that there must have been something in the broth that boiling had destroyed. The broth did not go bad.

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Q: Explain how Pasteur's experiments showed that living things do not come from nonliving things?
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