The theory of pangenesis, as it was termed in a modified version in Darwinism , was strongly reminiscent of the ideas of Hippocrates and Aristotle. Finally, in 1875, Oscar Hertwig's principle of the universality of fertilization in sexual reproduction confirmed the transmission of hereditary material through the two sex cells. In 1900 the neglected work of Gregor Mendel was rediscovered and the first scientific laws for the mechanisms of hereditary were presented. These, correlating with the microscopic and experimental observations of the behavior of chromosomes and reproductive cells and later with the biochemical analyses of genes and their products, provided the basis for modern studies. Genetics is the modern science that studies the mechanisms for the transmission of hereditary information in the resulting organism.
Mutation is a mechanism for evolutionary change, initiating new variations.
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