Blumenbach, J.  Uber den Bildungstrieb und das Zeugungsgeschäft (1781). 

Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840) is considered the father of modern anthropology.  He was probably the first person to lecture on comparative anatomy in Germany.  In this work he rejected the "preformation" theory and advanced the theory of epigenesis as the true explanation of the phenomenon of embryological development.  An English translation was done in about 1792.

(Source:  Garrison & Morton; Dictionary of Scientific Biography)