This work collects the rare primary works on the origin of life by Henry Charlton Bastian (1837-1915), one of the brightest young rising Darwinian stars of the time. It contains all Bastian's key works on this subject, from his very first in 1871, "The Modes of Origin of Lowest Organisms", though to one of his last, "The Evolution of Life" in 1907. The set also includes contemporary reviews and responses to Bastian's work which illustrate how emotive this theory was during the 1870s and why the likes of T.H. Huxley and John Tyndall went to extraordinarily great lengths to oppose Bastian. In the first two decades after the publication of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" (1859), a lively, often heated debate broke out about what the implications of Darwin's theory were for understanding the origin of life from non-living matter. Nowhere was the debate more acrimoniuous than among the Darwinians themselves. The response to Bastian's work was uniformly negative in Christian religious circles, and created a tremendous response, both negative and positive, from the Darwinians. One faction, including medical doctors and scientific journals, strongly supported Bastian's ideas, another, including Huxley, Tyndall and the powerful X Club, fiercely attacked Bastian, eventually declaring him vanquished by 1878. This set contains examples of both reactions, including Huxley's famous "Biogenesis and Abiogenesies" address. This set should be of interest to those wishing to understand the genesis of today's idea about the origin of life. Much of the broad outlines of modern Darwinian ideas took shape in the debate over Bastian's work and have remained with us since.

Table of Contents:
Volume 1 [463pp] Series Preface by John M. Lynch [2pp] Introduction by James Strick (c. 12pp) H. C. Bastian, 'Protoplasm', Nature, vol. 1 (24 February 1870), pp. 424-6 [3pp] H. C. Bastian, 'Facts and Reasonings Concerning the Hetrogeneous Evolution of Living Things', Nature, vol. 2 (30 June and 7, 14 July 1870), pp. 170-77, pp. 193-201, pp. 219-28 [27pp] T. H. Huxley, 'Biogenesis and Abiogenesis', Nature, vol. 2 (15 September 1870), pp. 400-406 [7pp] T. H. Huxley, 'On the Relations of Pencillium, Torula and Bacterium', Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, vol. 10 (October or November 1870), pp. 355-62 [8pp] H. C. Bastian, 'Reply to Professor Huxley's Inaugural Address', Nature, vol. 2 (22 and 29 September 1870), pp. 410-13 and pp. 431-4 [8pp] Anon., 'The British Association', Nature, vol. 2 (22 September 1870), pp. 416-17 [2pp] T. H. Huxley, 'Dr. Bastian and Spontaneous Generation', Nature, vol. 2 (13 October 1870), p. 473 H. C. Bastian, 'The Evolution of Life: Professor Huxley's Address', Nature, vol. 2 (20 October 1870), p. 492 Anon., 'Bastian on Lowest Organisms', British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 49 (April 1872), pp. 448-51 [4pp] The Modes of Origin of Lowest Organisms (1871) H. C. Bastian xii, 109pp Reviews of The Beginnings of Life [67pp] Alfred Russel Wallace, 'The Beginnings of Life', Nature, vol. 6 (8 and 15 August 1872), pp. 284-7, 299-303 [9pp] Anon., 'The Evolution of Life: Review of Dr. Bastian's Book', Medical Press and Circular (25 September 1872), pp. 264-6 [3pp] Edward Youmans, 'Spontaneous Generation', The Popular Science Monthly, vol. 2 (November 1872), pp. 83-93 [11pp] Anon., review of The Beginnings of Life, The Lancet, vol. 2 (12 October 1872), pp. 528-9 [2pp] Anon., review of The Beginnings of Life, The Lancet, vol. 2 (19 October 1872), p. 563 Anon., 'Bastian on the Beginnings of Life', British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. 50 (October 1872), pp. 446-9 [4pp] Anon., review of The Beginnings of Life, The Practitioner, vol. 9 (1872), pp. 291-4 [4pp] H. N. Moseley, review of The Beginnings of Life, The Academy, vol. 3 (1 November 1872), pp. 408-12 [5pp] E. Ray Lankester, review of The Beginnings of Life, Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, vol. 13 (January 1873), pp. 59-74 [16pp] J. B. Sanderson, 'Dr. Bastian's Experiments on the Beginning of Life', Nature, vol. 7 (9 January 1873), pp. 180-81 [2pp] E. R. Lankester, 'Dr. Sanderson's Experiments', Nature, vol. 7 (30 January 1873), pp. 242-3 [2pp] William Roberts, 'Dr. Bastian's Experiments on the Beginning of Life', Nature, vol. 7 (20 February 1873), p. 302 J. B. Sanderson, 'Dr. Bastian's Turnip-Cheese Experiments', Nature, vol. 8 (19 June 1873), pp. 141-3 [3pp] H. C. Bastian, 'Dr. Sanderson's Experiments and Archebiosis', Nature, vol. 8 (10 July 1873), pp. 199-200 [2pp] J. B. Sanderson, 'Note on Huizinga's Experiments', Nature, vol. 8 (2 October 1873), pp. 478-9 [2pp] H. C. Bastian, 'Spontaneous Generation', Nature, vol. 9 (23 April 1874), pp. 482-3 [2pp] Evolution and the Origin of Life (1874) H. C. Bastian xv, 186pp Volume 2 [512pp] The Beginnings of Life I (1872) H. C. Bastian xxxvi, 476pp Volume 3 [640pp] The Beginnings of Life II (1872) H. C. Bastian 640pp Volume 4 [345pp] The Beginnings of Life Appendices (1872) clvpp H. C. Bastian, 'Discussion on the Germ Theory of Disease', Transactions of the Pathological Society of London, vol. 26 (1875), pp. 255-345 [91pp] H. C. Bastian, 'On the Conditions Favouring Fermentation and the Appearance of Bacilli, Micrococci, and Torulae in Previously Boiled Fluids', Journal of the Linnean Society of London, vol. 14 (1879), pp. 1-94 [95pp] H. C. Bastian, "The Commission of the French Academy and the Pasteur-Bastian Experiments', Nature, vol. 16 (2 August 1877), pp. 276-79 [4pp] Volume 5 [406pp] The Nature and Origin of Living Matter (1905) H. C. Bastian 342pp + 32 plates (c.64pp) Volume 6 [359pp] The Evolution of Life (1907) H. C. Bastian xvi, 319pp (including 12 illustrations) and 12 plates (24pp)