I think this is 17th century:

Anton van Leeuwenhoek was the first person to observe sperm cells and with his very primitive microscope, thought he saw tiny body parts in the sperm. He used this as “proof” of the idea that the homunculus was in the sperm and the mother’s body just served as a place for the planted seed to grow. Apparently Leeuwenhoek, himself, did not claim the sperm was the homunculus, but that sperm provided major life-giving qualities. Regnier de Graaf, on the other hand, thought he saw the homunculus in the egg and that the sperm merely triggers its growth somehow. This split the preformationists: was the miniature adult in the egg (followers of de Graaf) or the sperm (followers of Leeuwenhoek)? Additionally, Leeuwenhoek proposed that fertilization occurs when the sperm enters the egg, but this could not actually be observed for another 100 years because of the quality of microscopes which were available. Most of the subsequent arguments as to the nature of embryos were based on speculation rather than research.

That's great, -t. Where did you find it?

Gronklies, all. Actually, I got semi-decent sleep last night, so I staggered in here in reasonable shape this morning and have been reasonably productive.

I have a team meeting in six minutes (argh) and I'm meeting a friend for lunch at the excellent thai place near here as soon as I can get out of here. Couldn't find my pictures from the PBP 2002 to show her though, they must be in a box downstairs.

It's from [link] about halfway down.

I was just going to post that my knowledge of early conception beliefs comes from Clan of the Cave Bear and probably not so helpful.

I had an interesting meeting with my psych prof this morning. She really wants me to be a tutor for the rest of the semester, but I told her I don't feel comfortable taking on anything else this semester. I told her I'd think about being a tutor next semester. She said I'm one of the top students in her classes (she teaches two sections of this class). Go me! Or something...

That's very impressive, vw!

I just printed my degree audit. I no longer have a 4.0. This makes me sad.

vw, just remember that the whole point of school is to get an education, not an average. No one you meet for the rest of oyur life EVER will care about a single grade you got in a single class--they'll care about how you use the knowledge you gained.

I've always wondered how the homunculus theory lasted as long as it did, what with the rather obvious fact that children tend to resemble both parents. Of course, I had a friend in high school tell me, AFAICT in all seriousness, that I was wrong when I said I looked more like my dad because girls always looked like their mothers.

There was a folk belief around the 18th century that a mother's thoughts at the time of conception could imprint themselves on her child. So if you were committing adultery, just be sure to imagine your husband's features at the critical moment, and he'll never know it's not his kid!