pangenesis

American  

[pan-jen-uh-sis] / pænˈdʒɛn ə sɪs /

noun

Biology.

1. the theory that a reproductive cell contains gemmules or invisible germs that were derived from the individual cells from every part of the organism and that these gemmules are the bearers of hereditary attributes.

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pangenesis British  

/ pænˈdʒɛnɪsɪs /

noun

1. a former theory of heredity, that each body cell produces hereditary particles that circulate in the blood before collecting in the reproductive cells See also blastogenesis

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Other Word Forms

• pangenetic
  adjective
• pangenetically
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of pangenesis

1868; pan- + genesis; term introduced by Charles Darwin

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pangenesis

It was a name that protested its own origin: even though he had systematically demolished Darwin’s theory of pangenesis, de Vries paid his mentor a final homage.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Buried in the text of that review was the most powerful argument against pangenesis that Darwin would encounter in his lifetime.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

If pangenesis occurs, the transmission of acquired characters ought to be a prominent fact.

From Are the Effects of Use and Disuse Inherited? An Examination of the View Held by Spencer and Darwin by W. P. (William Platt) Ball

But these cases become plain on the hypothesis of pangenesis.

From The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Volume II (of 2) by Charles Darwin

If then the hypothesis of pangenesis is well founded, that rite ought to be now absolutely or nearly superfluous from the necessarily continuous absence of certain gemmules through so many centuries and so many generations.

From On the Genesis of Species by St. George Mivart