PREGNANCY GESTATION GRAVIDITY FERTILITY

From the Era of Darwin, Galton, Mendel ...
when notions of Genes and Genetics were being conceived.
Elegant Pithy Lasting Intelligence

" Conception consists in the fecundation,
(implies fertile partners)
by the agency of the male,
(sexual reproduction) 
of a germ previously existing in the female,
(shown to exist since birth)
and destined by a series of concurrent operations,
(chrono-genetics - developmental horizons)
to be invested with endowments similar to those of the parents,
(similar but not identical) 
and to be rendered capable,
(not always expressed) 
in process of time, 
 (development is life-long)
of excersining similar functions"
(environment permitting) 

(in "On the Causes and Treatment of Abortion and Sterility",
James Whitehead, Blanchard and Lea, Philadelphia, 1854)