A metaphor for a miniature man in the brain governing decision making. Originating in the embryological concept of preformationism, schemas, representations and other such non-holonomic constraints are contemporary examples of homunculi. The preformationsists were buttressed in their conviction that that a future adult organism was to be found in miniature form in either spermia (the spermists/animalcultists) or the ova (the ovists) through the invention of the light microscope by Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723). A magnification of 250x was sufficient for some to see an actual miniature adult folded up in the spermia (see example below).
