perigenesis en · NOUN
Etymology
From peri- + genesis. Named by Ernst Haeckel's 1876 text Die Perigenesis der Plastidule, translated into English as "The Generation of Waves in the Small Vital Particles")
Meanings
- (historical, uncountable) A theory put forward by Ernst Haeckel which explains inheritance (of characteristics) by the transmission of the type of so-called "growth force", possessed by one generation to another.