Charles Darwin (1809–1882)
First page of a manuscript draft of the ‘provisional hypothesis’ of pangenesis
England, 1860s

Darwin’s theory of how characteristics could be passed from generation to generation – pangenesis – was published in 1868. He recognised that it was speculative, but published it as a contribution to debate. Pangenesis suggested that characteristics were inherited through ‘gemmules’, minute granules shed by the different parts of an organism and dispersed throughout its system. ‘The whole subject of inheritance is wonderful,’ Darwin wrote, ‘When a new character arises, whatever its nature may be, it generally tends to be inherited, … the real subject of surprise is … not that a character should be inherited, but that any should ever fail to be inherited.’

MS DAR 51: C36