Germ theory.
1.
(Biol.)
The
theory that living organisms can be produced only by the development
of living germs. Cf. Biogenesis, Abiogenesis.
2.
(Med.)
The theory which attributes
contagious and infectious diseases, suppurative lesions, etc., to the
agency of germs. The science of bacteriology was developed after this
theory had been established.
© Webster 1913.