INHERITANCE 227 



the outcome of inheritance ; the individual formation of the 

 next generation is shown not to be performed by a machine 

 but by a natural agent per se. 



THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MATERIAL CONTINUITY IN 



INHERITANCE 



But what about the material continuity appearing in 

 inheritance, which we have said to be almost self-evident, 

 as life is only known to exist on material bodies ? Is 

 there not, in fact, a serious contradiction in admitting at 

 the same time entelechy on the one side and a sort 

 of material condition on the other as the basis of all 

 that leads to and from inheritance ? Next summer the 

 relation between matter and our autonomous agent of life 

 will be studied more fully ; at present it must be enough 

 to state in a more simple and realistic way, what we hold 

 this relation to be. There is no contradiction at all in 

 stating that material continuity is the basis of inheritance 

 on the one side, and entelechy on the other. It would 

 be very inconvenient for us if there were any : for the 

 material continuity is a mere fact and our entelechy we 

 hope we have proved to exist also ; if now there were any 

 sort of contradiction in assuming the existence of both of 

 them, of course it would be fatal to our proof. 



Let us try to comprehend what is meant by the 

 statement that entelechy and something material are at 

 work in inheritance at the same time. Entelechy has ruled 

 the individual morphogenesis of the generation which is 

 regarded as being the starting-point for inheritance, and 

 will rule also the morphogenesis of the generation which 



