\Ab`i*o*gen"e*sis\, n. [Gr. 'a priv. + ? life + ?,
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}.
      I shall call the . . . doctrine that living matter may
      be produced by not living matter, the hypothesis of
      abiogenesis.                             --Huxley,
                                               1870.