Note 224 — V. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SEXUAL REPRODUCTION IN THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION. (continued 2)

It is generally known that the earlier physiologists believed in what was called the ‘evolutionary theory,’ or the ‘theory of preformation.’ This assumes that the germ contains, in a minute form, the whole of the fully-developed animal. All the parts of the adult are preformed in the germ, and development only consists in the growth of these parts and their more perfect arrangement. This theory was generally accepted until the middle of the last century, when Kaspar Friedrich Wolff brought forward the theory of ‘epigenesis,’ which since that time has been the dominant one. This assumes that no special parts of the germ are preformations of certain parts of the fully-developed animal, and that these latter arise by a series of changes in the germ, which gradually gives rise to them. In modern times the theory of preformation has been revived in a less crude form, as is shown by the ideas of Nägeli, and by Darwin’s ‘pangenesis.’—A. W., 1888.