THE DIFFERENT MODES OF PROPAGATION. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE REGENERATION OF LIVING ORGANISMS AFTER PARTIAL DESTRUCTION. THE PER- 

 SISTENCY OF VITALITY DURING DECOMPOSITION. THE RELATION OF SECONDARY 

 CAUSES TO THE GREAT PRIMARY CAUSE. ANIMALS PRIMARILY CHEATED IN AN 

 ADDLT STATE. 



HAVING demonstrated to you that the egg is merely one of 

 the early states of existence, and not a body which preexists 

 the animal proper; and having shown that there are certain 

 creatures which, even in their adult state, are as simple in struc- 

 ture as the least complicated eggs ; and finally, that the so-called 

 egg is left more or less dependent upon physical causes for its 

 growth, in some cases nearly altogether independent of the 

 influence of the parent, and consequently dependent upon phy- 

 sical agency for its growth almost entirely ; I remarked, then, that 

 there seems to be but one step left to bring us to that condition 

 of things under which the animal-egg 1 may arise altogether in- 

 dependent of a parent. I then went on to state that it is an 

 acknowledged fact among naturalists, that some individuals do 

 not originate from the egg, but by a process in which both male as 

 well as female reproduce their Like, that is, by budding or by self- 

 division ; and exemplified these processes by the budding of 

 Hydra and the Anemone, and by the fissigemmation of Stentor, 

 the Hydra-like young of Aurelia, Myrianida, Taenia, and some 

 of the higher forms of creation, such as the fishes and reptiles, 

 and the warm-blooded animals, Man not being excepted. 



Now it having been shown that there are three different 

 modes by which an individual existence arises, the question 

 further demands whether there may not be still another yet un- 

 discovered method, even more simple than those already known. 



Furthermore, these buddings of Hydra and Metridium are 

 mere subdivisions of cells ; one cell alone may subdivide ; an egg 

 which is a single cell may do the same ; and so may an animal, 



