Preformationism
Preformationism
(Lat. pre + formare, to form before) The doctrine, according to which, the organs and hereditary characters of living creatures are already contained in the germ either structurally or by subsequent differentiation. Cf. Leibniz (q.v.) (Monadology, sect. 74) who was influenced by Leeuwenhoek’s microscopic discoveries and theory of the homunculus (little human contained in the sperm).