The Biological Problem of To-Day: Preformation or Epigenesis? The Basis of a Theory of Organic Development
Oscar Hertwig
Paperback
‘As a man arises from an egg-cell by cell multiplication and cell differentiation, so the human community, a composite organism of a still higher nature, has arisen from separate human beings as its starting-point.’
Oscar Hertwig was an opponent of August Weismann’s theory of germplasm and doctrine of determinants. Hertwig’s treatise, “Präformation oder Epigenese?”, was an important work attacking Weismann’s theories in the early debates regarding the process of reproduction. This comprehensive translation by Peter Chalmers Mitchell also includes his introduction stating the positions taken by Weismann and Hertwig as well as the issues resolved.
Oscar Hertwig was a German embryologist and zoologist who made important contributions to the study of heredity and developmental biology. His most important achievement was his discovery of the fertilization and reproduction process of sea urchins.