Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Ovism \O"vism\, n. [Ovum + -ism.] (Zo["o]l.)
   The old theory that the egg contains the whole embryo of the
   future organism and the germs of all subsequent offsprings
   and is merely awakened to activity by the spermatozo["o]n; --
   opposed to {spermism} or {animalculism}.