Richmond M L
Interdisciplinary Studies Program, Wayne State University, Detroit, USA.
Endeavour. 2001 Jun;25(2):55-60. doi: 10.1016/s0160-9327(00)01360-0.
Many historians have assumed that the advent of the chromosome theory of heredity and the theory of the gene settled the old debate over preformation versus epigenesis in favour of preformation. An analysis of the views of leading British cytologists between 1900 and 1920 indicates that the story is more complex. Cytologists could accept seemingly preformationist tenets about the hereditary factors and yet maintain an overall epigenetic view of organism development by assuming that genes interact dynamically with the cytoplasm and that the cell is influenced by its environment throughout growth and development.
许多历史学家认为，遗传染色体理论和基因理论的出现解决了关于预成论与渐成论的古老争论，支持了预成论。对1900年至1920年间英国主要细胞学家观点的分析表明，情况更为复杂。细胞学家可以接受关于遗传因子看似预成论的信条，但通过假设基因与细胞质动态相互作用，且细胞在整个生长和发育过程中受到其环境的影响，来维持对生物体发育的整体渐成论观点。
