Maupertuis and the Beginnings of Genetics
- 31 August 1947
- journal article
- research article
- Published by University of Chicago Press in The Quarterly Review of Biology
- Vol. 22 (3) , 196-210
- https://doi.org/10.1086/395787
Abstract
It was the misfortune of this investigator to have been precocious in his thought by over a century. His biological ideas may be considered under 3 heads: the formation of the individual, the nature of heredity, and the evolution of species. He argued on genetic grounds against preformation 15 yrs. before the work of Kasper Wolff. He investigated human heredity 200 yrs. ago in a manner calculated to draw the admiration of any geneticist of the present day, and applied the mathematical theory of probability to genetics over a century before Mendel. His theory of heredity was particulate and involved the mutual attraction of analogous particles provided by each parent. It implied segregation, dominance and independent assortment. His theory of organic evolution was based on mutation, natural selection and geographic isolation.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- Further Notes on Pangenesis and the Inheritance of Acquired CharactersThe American Naturalist, 1936
- The Inheritance of Acquired Characters and the Provisional Hypothesis of PangenesisThe American Naturalist, 1935