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| | Evolution |
 | | Third, the pre-existence theory, at least in the versions that embraced the “germ” theory, allowed for the appearance of life in time, as seemed to be suggested by the existence of fossil forms, while at the same time it did not imply any change of species or development of one species from another. |
| | Finally, some kind of preformation of the embryo could be reconciled with the best microscopic observations of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, as these were reported by such renown experts on this instrument as Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), Jan Swammerdam (1637–80), Marcello Malpighi (1628–94), and Henry Baker (1690–1774). |
| | The theory of the preformed germs could be used could also be appealed to as an explanation of the persistent empirical evidence for the spontaneous generation of at least some groups of organisms. |
| plato.stanford.edu /entries/evolution (17104 words) |
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