[The Pangenetic theory in the tradition of Greek medical science].

The Pangenetic theory which holds that sperm comes from all the body seems to have been one of the most remarkable doctrines in Greek biology in the fifth and fourth centuries BC, since Aristotle gives a detailed description of the theory and criticizes it severely. The main sources of information about the Pangenetic theory are several medical treatises in the Hippocratic Corpus. There are only some mentions of it in the extant fragments ascribed to Democritus. It would be probable, therefore, that the theory had the origin of its theoretical form in the tradition of Greek medical science, and then came to the focus of attention among the Presocratic philosophers. Some scholars, on the other hand, claim that Democritus had a decisive role in the formation and development of the theory, which was then taken over by the Hippocratic doctors in their attempt to give a systematic explanation for some of the important genetic issues, such as the inheritance of similarities from parents to their children. It must be kept in mind, however, that Hippocratic doctors thought of particular fluids or humours with their inherent powers (delta upsilon nu alpha mu epsilon iotas) as the essential constituents of human body. This fact leads us to have an idea that the doctors had a completely different view of matter from the corpuscular theory, although Lesky (1950) and Lonie (1981) assume them to have been almost dependent on the atomism of Democritus. We can conclude that the Pangenetic theory came originally from Greek medical science, and then developed into the most influential doctrine before Aristotle.