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

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Etymology

Origin of pangenesis

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pangenesis

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

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

Finally, we can see on the hypothesis of pangenesis that variability depends on at least two distinct groups of causes.

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

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

This was the theory put forward by Darwin under the name of "pangenesis," and by others under other titles with which it is unnecessary to burden these pages.

From Science and Morals and Other Essays by Sir Bertram Coghill Alan Windle

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