Abiogenesis

the production of life by the spontaneous generation by dead matter without the intervention of any pre-existing life. It has been contended that the living bacteria that grow in solutions in which meat or other organic matter has been steeped have been thus spontaneously generated. The researches on which this conclusion was based are now discredited, and no satisfactory experimental proof of abiogenesis has been obtained. Abjuration. The oath of abjuration was imposed in 1701 upon all holders of public offices and members of Parliament, binding them to renunciation of all allegiance to the Stuarts. In 1858 the oath was remodelled, and became a declaration of allegiance to the present Sovereign combined with a promise to support the Protestant succe ion and a denial of all authority of foreign princes. In 1868 the Promi ory Oaths Act enabled Jews and Catholics to substitute a short oath of true allegiance for the old abjuaration oath.