Germplasm theory against Lamarck’s principle was put forward by
August Weismann, a German biologist, was the main opposer of the inheritance of acquired characters. He put forward the theory of continuity of germplasm. According to Weismann, only characters influencing the germ cells are inherited.
Louis Pasteur performed the swan-necked flask experiment to disprove the theory of spontaneous generation. Louis Pasteur proposed a theory that life emerges from pre–existing life forms.
The theory of Lamarck was based on the principle of acquired characters. According to the theory, if an organism of a particular generation acquires certain characteristics due to their surrounding environment, it passes them to the next generation.
According to de Vries' mutation theory, living organisms can develop changes to their genes that greatly alter the organism. These changes are passed down to the next generation which lead to the development of new species. Once a new species has evolved, it becomes fixed and stops changing.