XI 



PHENOMENA OF ORGANIC NATURE 393 



are called " cuttings " ; for example, that by tak- 

 ing a cutting from a geranium plant, and rearing 

 it properly, by supplying it with light and warmth 

 and nourishment from the earth, it grows up and 

 takes the form of its parent, having all the pro- 

 perties and peculiarities of the original plant. 



Sometimes this process, which the gardener per- 

 forms artificially, takes place naturally ; that is to 

 say, a little bulb, or portion of the plant, detaches 

 itself, drops off, and becomes capable of growing 

 as a separate thing. That is the case with many 

 bulbous plants, which throw off in this way second- 

 ary bulbs, which are lodged in the ground and 

 become developed into plants. This is a non-sexual 

 process, and from it results the repetition or re- 

 production of the form of the original being from 

 which the bulb proceeds. 



Among animals the same thing takes place. 

 Among the lower forms of animal life, the infusorial 

 animalcule we have already spoken of throw off 

 certain portions, or break themselves up in various 

 directions, sometimes transversely or sometimes 

 longitudinally ; or they may give off buds, which 

 detach themselves and develop into their proper 

 forms. There is the common fresh-water polype, 

 for instance, which multiplies itself in this way. 

 Just in the same way as the gardener is able to 

 multiply and reproduce the peculiarities and char- 

 acters of particular plants by means of cuttings, 

 so can the physiological experimentalist as was 



