It was a wholly incorrect scheme, but it contained a kernel of truth. Aristotle broke from the ancient idea of preformation, which proposed that the mini-human, called a homunculus, came already premade—eyes, nose, mouth, ears intact—but shrunk into microscopic size and folded tight in the sperm, like a toy that expands to full size when you add water. The preformation theory would preoccupy many scientific minds from ancient times all the way up to the early eighteenth century.
