Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The opinions and teachings of August Weismann, a noted German zoölogist and writer on speculative biology.
- noun In popular biological literature, the doctrine or opinion that acquired characters are not, and can not be, inherited. See doctrine of germ-plasm, substance of heredity, acquired character.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Biol.) The theories and teachings in regard to heredity propounded by the German biologist August Weismann, esp. in regard to germ plasm as the basis of heredity and the impossibility of transmitting acquired characteristics; -- often called
neo-Darwinism .
Etymologies
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Examples
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This may be in a physical sense: Weismannism assumes that intergenerational continuity exists only for germ cell nuclei whereas somatic cells and germ cell cytoplasm arise anew in each generation.
The Human Genome Project Gannett, Lisa 2008
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Fortuitously initiated development is a condition sine qua non of Darwinism and Weismannism.
At the Deathbed of Darwinism A Series of Papers Eberhard Dennert
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Weismannism that not only sex but all other congenital characters are determined in the fertilised ovum or zygote.
Hormones and Heredity J. T. Cunningham 1897
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Weismannism not only retained the principle of utility and selection, but made it the only principle, rejecting entirely the action of external conditions as a cause of congenital modifications, _i. e._ of characters whose development is predetermined in the fertilised ovum.
Hormones and Heredity J. T. Cunningham 1897
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Weismannism_ -- occupied a distinguished place in contemporary biology.
Thoughts on Religion George John Romanes 1871
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Now let me return to the recent division of biological opinion into two main streams -- Lamarckism and Weismannism Both Lamarckians and
Essays on Life, Art and Science Samuel Butler 1868
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The former is sometimes called the theological view, because it recognises the presence in organic nature of design, whether it be called creative power, directive force, directivity, or vital principle; the latter view, in which the existence of design is absolutely negatived, is now usually described as Weismannism, from the name of the writer who has been its principal advocate in recent years.
Essays on Life, Art and Science Samuel Butler 1868
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Mr. Wallace, therefore, may well be excused if he casts longing eyes towards Weismannism.
Essays on Life, Art and Science Samuel Butler 1868
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Of the English, Herbert Spencer, who however, was averse to the vitalistic attitude, Vines and Henslow among botanists, Cunningham among zoologists, have always resisted Weismannism; but, I think, none of these was distinctly influenced by Hering and Butler.
Unconscious Memory Samuel Butler 1868
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Weismannism, therefore, is the inevitable outcome of the straits to which Charles-Darwinians were reduced through the way in which their leader had halted between two opinions.
Essays on Life, Art and Science Samuel Butler 1868
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