Abstract
William Dallinger (1839-1909) emerged from the dockyards of Devenport, Plymouth, to become a prominent British Methodist preacher, educator, and microbiologist. His childhood interest in microscopy led to a lifelong involvement in the study of microorganisms and the "brass and glass" of microscopy as well as to an important role in the British debate of the 1870s and early 1880s over spontaneous generation. In the tradition of John Wesley, he promoted science education in his denomination and to the general public through his leadership in the Wesley Scientific Society and his lectures for the Gilchrist Educational Foundation. Ironically, his opposition to spontaneous generation placed him in the camp of John Tyndall, T. H. Huxley, William Carpenter, and other leading scientists who encouraged his work and smoothed his path into the highest levels of British scientific culture. In this paper, I outline Dallinger's life and accomplishments and examine the religious climate from which he developed his theistic evolution and experimental efforts to support Darwin. While many of his contemporaries saw life arising full blown, by a creative act, Dallinger saw a divine potter working with clay.