
An 1879 dictionary entry on biogenesis by English physicist William Rossiter. [1]

An 1879 dictionary entry on biogenesis by English physicist William Rossiter. [1]

In science, biogenesis , from the Greek bio- ‘life’ + -genesis ‘to be born’ or ‘origin or coming into being of something’, as apposed to abiogenesis, refers to either a theory of "life-origination or commencement" (Bastian, c.1869) or the hypothesis that "living matter always arises by the agency of pre-existing living matter" (Huxley, 1870), both conceptualized in a physio-chemical sense or perspective.

Etymology
The etymological origin of both the theory that "life can only come from life", variously attributed to: William Harvey (c.1630), Lorenz Oken (1803), Rudolf Virchow (1858), and Louis Pasteur (1861), among others, and the coining of the term "biogenesis", attributed to both Henry Bastian (c.1869) and or Thomas Huxley (1870), is rather spread out.

The gist of the term coining seems to have arisen in circa 1869 during which time English pathological anatomist Henry Bastian got into some type of exchange of letters debated with John Tyndall about the origin of life and dust and microorganisms, during which time Bastian was employing the term biogenesis in his unpublished writings; a debate about which Thomas Huxley in his 1870 BAAS address commented on.

The following timeline outlines some of this "life from life" theory terminology history:

Date
English | Translation

William Harvey
(1578-1657) c.1630 “Omne vivum ex ovo” | Latin (original)

“Every living thing from an egg” [attributed] [4]
Lorenz Oken
(1779-1851) 1805 “Nullum vivum ex ovo! Omne vivum e vivo!” | Latin (original)

“No living thing from an egg! Every living from the living!” | English (translation) [2]
Rudolf Virchow
(1821-1902) 1858 “Omnis cellula e cellula” | Latin (original)

“Every cell of the cell” | English (translation) [3]
Henry Bastian (1837-1915) 1860s Employed the term "biogenesis", independently, in his unpublished writings, to mean "life-origination or commencement".
Thomas Huxley
(1825-1895) 1870 “The hypothesis that living matter always arises by the agency of pre-existing living matter, took definite shape; and had, henceforward, a right to be considered and a claim to be refuted, in each particular case, before the production of living matter in any other way could be admitted by careful reasoners. It will be necessary for me to refer to this hypothesis so frequently, that, to save circumlocution, I shall call it the hypothesis of Biogenesis; and I shall term the contrary doctrine—that living matter may be produced by not living matter—the hypothesis of Abiogenesis.” [5]
William Thomson c.1876 “Dead matter cannot become living matter without coming under the influence of matter previous alive.” (Ѻ)
Henry Bastian (1837-1915) 1871 “A word of explanation seems necessary with regard to the introduction of the new term archebiosis. I had originally, in unpublished writings, adopted the word biogenesis to express the same meaning—viz, life-origination or commencement.

But in the mean time the word biogenesis has been made use of, quite independently, by a distinguished biologist [Huxley], who wished to make it bear a totally different meaning. He also introduced the term abiogenesis.

I have been informed, however, on the best authority, that neither of these words can—with any regard to the language from which they are derived—be supposed to bear the meanings which have of late been publicly assigned to them. Wishing to avoid all needless confusion, I therefore renounced the use of the word biogenesis, and being, for the reason just given, unable to adopt the other term, I was compelled to introduce a new word, in order to designate the process by which living matter is supposed to come into being, independently of pre-existing living matter.” [6]

William Rossiter
(c.1836-c.1900) 1879 “Biogenesis: the origin of life from life only: opposed to abiogenesis.” [1]

	Date	English \| Translation

William Harvey (1578-1657)	c.1630	“Omne vivum ex ovo” \| Latin (original) “Every living thing from an egg” [attributed]	[4]
Lorenz Oken (1779-1851)	1805	“Nullum vivum ex ovo! Omne vivum e vivo!” \| Latin (original) “No living thing from an egg! Every living from the living!” \| English (translation)	[2]
Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902)	1858	“Omnis cellula e cellula” \| Latin (original) “Every cell of the cell” \| English (translation)	[3]
Henry Bastian (1837-1915)	1860s	Employed the term "biogenesis", independently, in his unpublished writings, to mean "life-origination or commencement".
Thomas Huxley (1825-1895)	1870	“The hypothesis that living matter always arises by the agency of pre-existing living matter, took definite shape; and had, henceforward, a right to be considered and a claim to be refuted, in each particular case, before the production of living matter in any other way could be admitted by careful reasoners. It will be necessary for me to refer to this hypothesis so frequently, that, to save circumlocution, I shall call it the hypothesis of Biogenesis; and I shall term the contrary doctrine—that living matter may be produced by not living matter—the hypothesis of Abiogenesis.”	[5]
William Thomson	c.1876	“Dead matter cannot become living matter without coming under the influence of matter previous alive.”	(Ѻ)
Henry Bastian (1837-1915)	1871	“A word of explanation seems necessary with regard to the introduction of the new term archebiosis. I had originally, in unpublished writings, adopted the word *biogenesis* to express the same meaning—viz, life-origination or commencement. But in the mean time the word biogenesis has been made use of, quite independently, by a distinguished biologist [Huxley], who wished to make it bear a totally different meaning. He also introduced the term abiogenesis. I have been informed, however, on the best authority, that neither of these words can—with any regard to the language from which they are derived—be supposed to bear the meanings which have of late been publicly assigned to them. Wishing to avoid all needless confusion, I therefore renounced the use of the word biogenesis, and being, for the reason just given, unable to adopt the other term, I was compelled to introduce a new word, in order to designate the process by which living matter is supposed to come into being, independently of pre-existing living matter.”	[6]

William Rossiter (c.1836-c.1900)	1879	“Biogenesis: the origin of life from life only: opposed to abiogenesis.”	[1]

In the late 19th century, Ernst Haeckel, supposedly, formulated a “law of biogenesis”, which states that species have evolved from one another. (Ѻ)

References
1. Rossiter, William. (1879). An Illustrated Dictionary of Scientific Terms (pg. 51). William Collins, Sons, and Co.
2. (a) Oken, Lorenz. (1805). Die Zeugung (On Generation). Publisher.
(b) Harris, H. (1995). The Cells of the Body: a History of Somatic Cell Genetics (pg. 3). Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
(c) Oderberg, David S. (2013). “Synthetic Life and the Bruteness of Immanent Causation” (GB) (GD), in: Aristotle on Method and Metaphysics (editor: Edward Feser) (§12:206-35; esp. 208, note 14). Palgrave Macmillan.
3. (a) Price, Paul and Frey, Kevin B. (2003). Microbiology for Surgical Technologists (pg. #). Cengage Learning.
(b) Talk:Omne vivum ex ovo – Wikipedia.
4. (a) Note: this phrase is not found “explicitly” in Harvey’s writings, though seems to have been found “implicitly” throughout his writings as reported by many.
(b) Huxley, Thomas. (1878). “Scientific Worthies: William Harvey, Born April 1, 1578, Died June 3, 1658”, Nature, 17:417-20 Mar 28.
(c) Oderberg, David S. (2013). “Synthetic Life and the Bruteness of Immanent Causation” (GB) (GD), in: Aristotle on Method and Metaphysics (editor: Edward Feser) (§12:206-35; esp. 208, note 14). Palgrave Macmillan.
5. Huxley, Thomas. (1870). “Address”, at the Meeting of the British Association at Liverpool, Sep 14.
6. Bastian, Henry C. (1871). The Modes of Origin of Lowert Organisms: Including a Discussion of the Experiments of M. Pasteur, and a Reply to some of the Statements of professors Huxley and Tyndall. MacMillan and Co.

External links
● Biogenesis – Wikipedia.