Abstract
The earliest genetic concepts arose from the mists of antiquity. In the 6th century BC the so-called Pre-Socratic Greek philosophers started to postulate concepts based on the assumption that hereditary factors from mother and father were transferred to the child via the male and female semen (or semen equivalent). The Hippocratic doctors (5th and 4th centuries BC) consolidated existing wisdom by way of a complex theory which stated that hereditary factors (sex and general characteristics) transferred via male and female semen, determined the appearance of the child, but only after modifying factors such as volume, consistency and origin of semen, the elements heat, cold, moistness and dryness, and the position of foetus in the uterus, had played a role. Aristotle (4th century BC) postulated a very different theory, based on the assumption that the male was superior to the female, and that his strong semen would determine the hereditary process. Ideally this would lead to the birth of a male child, resembling his father. It was, however, possible that due to factors such as a strongly ‘concocted’ (enriched) female generative substance (menstrual blood, as she had no semen), specific weather conditions, the age of and interaction between parents, as well as the type of water drunk, the male dominance could be qualified, resulting in a sub-ideal child - e.g. a male child with the mother’s characteristics, or even a female child. Subsequent philosophers and physicians including Galen (2nd century AD), added little new to these two main doctrines, and Roman writers in particular tended to introduce elements of mysticism and superstition.
Highlights
Die begrip van oorerwing kom uit die oertyd en het waarskynlik ’n vroeë praktiese inslag gekry toe die mens ongeveer 10 millennia v.C. as landbouer en diereteler ’n meer gevestigde bestaan begin voer het
Theognis (7de eeu v.C.) het die agteruitgang van die adelstand aan genetiese faktore gekoppel, en in 446 v.C. het Pindaros beweer dat vir die behoud van die adelstand oorerwing belangriker was as geleerdheid
In hierdie artikel word ’n oorsig gegee van die ontwikkeling van oorerwingskonsepte in die Grieks-Romeinse era tot en met die 4de eeu n.C. soos weerspieël is in die denke van filosowe en geneeshere van die tyd
Summary
Die ontwikkeling van oorerwingsbegrippe sal kronologies weergegee word as die sienings van die sogenaamde preSokratiese filosowe, die Hippokratiese geneeshere, Aristoteles, die Alexandrynse geneeshere, filosofiese skole soos die Stoïsyne en die Pneumatici, en geneeshere van die eerste vier eeue na Christus. 480 v.C.) het weer die siening gehuldig dat beide man en vrou semen afskei, en dat semen wat manlike kenmerke oordra, regs in die liggaam ontstaan en saad met vroulike kenmerke links. Die geslag van die embrio word bepaal deur ’n groter volume van manlike of vroulike semen, maar oënskynlik is vermoed dat ongespesifiseerde kwalitatiewe eienskappe ook ’n rol speel.. Die geslag van die kind en sy/haar liggaamseienskappe word dan eerstens bepaal deur die graad van konkoksie van die manlike en vroulike generatiewe residue, dit wil sê semen en menstruele bloed. 5. Geneeshere, eerste vier eeue n.C. Soranus (2de eeu n.C.) het in sy Ginekologie die basis gelê van ons begrip van vrouesiektes, maar behalwe om te beweer dat die embrio sy eienskappe van beide vader en moeder ontvang, spekuleer hy nie oor oorerwing nie. Na analogie van steriele windeiers by hoenders, spekuleer Galenus dat die uterine mola dalk ’n generatiewe produk is wat in die afwesigheid van manlike semen ontstaan.
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