Theodor Gustav Heinrich Eimer

Born Feb. 22,1843, in Stäffa, near Zürich, Switzerland; died May 29, 1898, in Tübingen. German zoologist.

Eimer studied medicine and the natural sciences at the universities of Tübingen, Freiburg, Heidelberg, and Berlin. In 1869 he became a doctor of philosophy. He became a professor at the polytechnic institute in Darmstadt in 1874 and at the University of Tübingen in 1875. Eimer’s main works deal with the morphology, histology, and physiology of invertebrates and vertebrates and with the study of variations in the coloration of coelenterates, lepidopterans, and saurians. In his theoretical works, Eimer upheld the theory of the inheritance of acquired traits and the predetermined autonomous development of certain traits (seeORTHOGENESIS). In regard to the origin of organisms he supported polygenesis. Eimer was a representative of classical transformism.