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countable and uncountable, plural preformations
Prior formation. examples
(biology, historical) The theory that organisms are fully developed in the form of an egg or seed, and just increase in size (as opposed to epigenesis). quotations
Preformation, as even Aristotle spotted, merely postpones the problem, for how did the homunculus get its shape?
1999, Matt Ridley, Genome, Harper Perennial, published 2004, page 174