38: 'germ' Jan 15, 2015

Jan 1, 1870 Germ Theory is established by Pasteur & Koch. The word 'germ' had been used for a long time before then. In a text by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) it states, "On man when he came into life the father conferred the seeds of all kinds and the germs of every way of life". However in this case, a 'germ' is an initial stage from which something may develop.