The Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus c8.t1.2

c8.t1.2

Evidently the idea is, that though vegetable organisms may pass off into animal, there cannot be generation without *vîja* (seed or ovum), and inorganic matter without *vîja* (seed or ovum) cannot give rise to animal life. Pâtanjali, in the *Mahâbhâṣya* (*circa* 150 B.C.), mentions the opposed view, which holds that not only animal organisms but also vegetable organisms, *e.g.* grasses, grow from inorganic matter. The Dûrvâ grass, for example, can grow from deposits of the hair of goats and cows, just as scorpions are seen to develop out of cow-dung. Pâtanjali notes the orthodox Sânkhya-Vedânta explanation that these are not cases of growth (or transformation) but merely of coming out (अपक्रामन्ति), कथं गोमयाद् वृश्चिको जायते गोलोमाविलोमेभ्यः दूर्वा जायन्ते इति अपक्रामन्ति ता वस्तुभ्यः—*Mahâbhâṣya*, 1–4–3.