abiogenesis
    n 1: a hypothetical organic phenomenon by which living organisms
         are created from nonliving matter [syn: abiogenesis,
         autogenesis, autogeny, spontaneous generation]

Abiogenesis \Ab`i*o*gen"e*sis\, n. [Gr. 'a priv. + bi`os life +
   ge`nesis, origin, birth.] (Biol.)
   The supposed origination of living organisms from lifeless
   matter; such genesis as does not involve the action of living
   parents; spontaneous generation; -- called also abiogeny,
   and opposed to biogenesis.
   [1913 Webster]

         I shall call the . . . doctrine that living matter may
         be produced by not living matter, the hypothesis of
         abiogenesis.                             --Huxley,
                                                  1870.
   [1913 Webster]