1733-1794

German Physiologist and Embryologist

Kaspar Friedrich Wolff, the author of Theory of Generation (1759), revived the theory of epigenesis during a period in which many of the most respected naturalists were advocates of preformationist theory. According to the theory of epigenesis, an embryo is gradually produced from an undifferentiated mass by means of a series of steps and stages during which new parts are added. Preformationist theories asserted that an embryo or miniature individual preexisted in either the egg or the sperm and began to grow when properly stimulated. Wolff, who was very much influenced by the mode of thought known as nature philosophy, engaged in a debate about epigenesis and preformationism with the great physiologist Albrecht von Haller (1708-1777).

Kaspar Friedrich Wolff was born in Berlin, where he studied at the collegium medicochirurgicum. He continued his studies at the University of Halle where...