BUDDING AND FISSIGEMMATION. 109 



CHAPTER V. 



SPONTANEOUS GENERATION AND REPRODUCTION BY BUDDING AND FISSIGEMMA- 

 TION MOST FREQUENT AMONG THE LOWEST RANKS OF ANIMATE BEINGS. - 

 ALL, ANIMALS ALIKE IN THE EARLIEST STAGES. MAN AND MONAD ARE AT 

 ONE TIME A MERE DROP OF FLUID. 



No doubt the first question that will arise in the minds of 

 some in regard to spontaneous generation is this, " If spontane- 

 ous generation is truly one of the modes of introducing life on 

 earth, why do we not see animals of the higher forms and grade 

 spring into life, as we do mnong the lower ranks ? " To this I 

 would answer, in the first place, by asking another question, 

 namely, Why do not the higher animals, such as the quadru- 

 peds and man, reproduce themselves by budding, or by trans- 

 verse division, as frequently, and as a rule, as do the lower 

 animals ? Now in regard to this, I pointed out the other night 

 that what is a rule among the lower animals is an exception 

 among the higher forms of life, and that, when budding or self- 

 division does occur among the latter, it is under the guise of 

 what is called Monstrosity, which I explained as an abnormal 

 recurrence to the lower modes of reproduction, consequent upon 

 a low state of vitality in disease, or hereditary degeneracy. 



I think, upon due consideration, it will be found that repro- 

 duction by eggs is a common characteristic of all animals, 

 whereas budding or self-division is, within a certain limit, a 

 peculiarity which does not extend to the higher forms. We 

 find budding or self-division occurs in the lowest groups of all 

 the animal types. Among Protozoa, as the Infusoria are now 

 called, budding and self-division have been thought to be the 

 only modes of reproduction, until within a few years, when it was 

 discovered that they also reproduce themselves by eggs. Among 

 Zoophytes the Corals form their branching, tree-like stems by 

 budding. In the group of Mollusca, (shell-fish,) the Bryozoa, 





