pangenesis

(pan-jen’es-is) (Gr. was all + γένεσις begetting]. The doctrine that in reproduction each cell of the parent body is represented by a particle; the hypothesis that all the units or cells of the body reside in the blood as gemmules, multiply by division, and throw off atoms which are transmitted to the offspring, accounting for the hereditary transmi ion of acquired mental habits and other phenomena of heredity; the theory implying that the whole organism, in the sense of every atom or unit, reproduces itsclf.