biophor Biol.
(ˈbaɪəfɔː(r))
Also -phore.
[G. biophor, f. Gr. βίος life + -ϕορος -bearing.]
In Weismann's theory of heredity: a supposed ultimate unit of living protoplasm.
| 1893 Parker & Rönnfeldt tr. Weismann's Germ-Plasm i. i. 40 We have to imagine that..protoplasm..consists of groups of molecules, each of which is composed of different kinds of chemical molecules. I shall call these units the ‘bearers of vitality’ (‘Lebensträger’) or ‘biophors’, because they are the smallest units which exhibit the primary vital forces, viz. assimilation and metabolism, growth, and multiplication by fission. 1894 Nat. Sci. Sept. 185 His [sc. Weismann's] germ-plasm is made up of primary units, the biophores, which are built up into determinants, a determinant existing for each independently varying cell or group of cells in the adult organism. 1959 A. Hughes Hist. Cytol. iv. 83 His [sc. Weismann's] ideas on development..are as outdated as the peculiar terminology in which the postulated structure of the germ-plasm was expressed. The ‘Biophor’ has long been extinct, and the ‘Id’ has acquired a new meaning in another science. |