Titre : A pictorial biography of Bathybius haeckelii, the short-lived primordial life form of the deep sea 

Auteurs : John R. Dolan,  

Revue : Art and Science 

Numéro : Issue 4 

Volume : 10 

Date : 2026/10/23 

DOI : 10.21494/ISTE.OP.2026.1501 

ISSN : 2515-8767 

Résumé : In 1859, Darwin’s Origin of the Species provoked a revolution in biology, providing an explanation for the tremendous diversity of life forms. However, it had no explanation of how life originated on earth, nor discussion of a primordial life form that would give rise to existing life forms. Two of Darwin’s most devoted followers, Thomas Huxley and Ernst Haeckel, believed a solution had been found in the form Huxley’s discovery in 1868 of a microorganism he christened, Bathybius Haeckelii. It was a featureless gelatinous masse, covering the floor of the deep sea, according to Huxley, and plausibly formed by spontaneous generation, according to Haeckel. Although widely heralded, it was short-lived as gelatinous masses found in samples of deep-sea mud were found to be an artifact of sample preservation in 1875. Here the view put forward is that Bathybius was accepted, if only for a few years, not only because it filled a perceived lack in Darwin’s theory, but also due in large part to Haeckel’s illustrations of Bathybius as life-like creature, shown here through a pictorial biography of Bathybius. 

Éditeur : ISTE OpenScience