Obsolete biology theories

disproven theory of life arising from nonliving matter

biological hypothesis

thumb|upright=1.35 |Trofim Lysenko speaking at the Kremlin in 1935; behind him are (left to right) [[Stanislav Kosior, Anastas Mikoyan, Andrei Andreev and Joseph Stalin]] Lysenkoism was a pseudoscientific political campaign led by the Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko against genetics and science-based agriculture in the mid-20th century, rejecting natural selection in favour of a form of Lamarckism, as well as expanding upon the techniques of vernalization and grafting.

thumb|Evolutionary progress as a tree of life (biology)|tree of life. [[Ernst Haeckel, 1866]] thumb|upright=1.4|Lamarck's two-factor theory involves 1) a complexifying force that drives animal body plans towards higher levels (orthogenesis) creating a ladder of phyla, and 2) an adaptive force that causes animals with a given body plan to adapt to circumstances (use and disuse, [[inheritance of acquired characteristics), creating a diversity of species and genera. Popular views of Lamarckism only consider an aspect of the adaptive force.]] Orthogenesis is an obsolete biological hypothesis that

concept associated with Aristotelian philosophy in which all forms of life on the planet exist in ranked order, from the most to the least important, in a "ladder of life"

purported force in living things

thumb|upright=2|Charles Darwin's pangenesis theory postulated that every part of the body emits tiny particles called gemmules which migrate to the [[gonads and are transferred to offspring. Gemmules were thought to develop into their associated body parts as offspring matures. The theory implied that changes to the body during an organism's life would be inherited, as proposed in Lamarckism.]]

thumb|upright|A homunculus inside a [[sperm cell, as drawn by Nicolaas Hartsoeker in 1695]] thumb|Jan Swammerdam, Miraculum naturae sive uteri muliebris fabrica, 1729

19th-century evolutionary ideas for the altering of one species into another that preceded Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection

pseudoscientific concept of masculinity and group dynamics

Theory of the three divisions of the brain as developed by Paul D. MacLean

Misconception that different parts of the tongue are exclusively responsible for different tastes

theory in heredity, holding that offspring can inherit the characteristics of a previous mate of the female parent

thumb|350px|right|Figure 1: In the classic cyclol reaction, two peptide groups are linked by a N-C' bond, converting the carbonyl oxygen into a hydroxyl group. Although this reaction occurs in a few cyclic peptides, it is disfavored by Thermodynamic free energy|free energy, mainly because it eliminates the [[resonance stabilization of the peptide bond. This reaction was the basis of Dorothy Wrinch's cyclol model of proteins.]]

theory in genetics

Baron Carl von Reichenbach's notion of a physical force believed to pervade all nature, and manifesting itself chiefly in connection with mesmeric phenomena

substance

A mooncalf (or moon-calf) is a monstrous birth, the abortive fetus of a cow or other farm animal. The term was occasionally applied to an abortive human fetus.