From Ernst Peter Fischer, University of Konstanz
Kenneth Weiss’s suggestion that we should rethink the notion of what we mean by genetic (23 October, p 35) set me thinking about the origin of the word. The fact is that it does not stem from genes but, in German at least, from Goethe and his interest in morphogenesis.
As long ago as the 18th century there was talk about a genetic science that was supposed to understand the development of shape, and when Alexander von Humboldt composed his Kosmos in the mid-19th century the term “genetic” appears in many contexts, referring to changes of external nature driven by internal forces.
Modern genetics is very far from being a genetic science in this sense. It is a physical science that understands causes called genes, but has no inkling of genetic laws leading to the form we admire when we look at life.
Konstanz, Germany
