[Caspar Friedrich Wolff: the emergence of epigenesis]

The role of C.F. Wolff, an outstanding anatomist and embryologist, in the development of embryology is described to mark the 280th anniversary of his birth. His life and work were fully elucidated in the book of A.E. Gaisinovich, a famous historian of biology. Although the alternation of preformation and epigenesis is accompanied by a succession of ideas, the boundary between these concepts is clearly retained and depends on many social and cultural factors.