﻿100 
  THE 
  CRITERIA 
  OF 
  LIVINGNESS 
  

  

  tion 
  and 
  variation. 
  There 
  is 
  a 
  change 
  wrought 
  on 
  the 
  body 
  

   by 
  some 
  peculiarity 
  of 
  nurture, 
  environment, 
  or 
  habit. 
  That 
  

   is 
  a 
  modification, 
  and, 
  so 
  far 
  as 
  we 
  are 
  aware, 
  it 
  is 
  not 
  

   transmissible 
  in 
  itself 
  or 
  in 
  any 
  representative 
  degree. 
  So 
  

   this 
  does 
  not 
  help 
  us. 
  There 
  are 
  also 
  variations 
  which 
  

   consist 
  in 
  the 
  loss 
  of 
  some 
  ancestral 
  character, 
  such 
  as 
  horns 
  

   or 
  a 
  tail, 
  and 
  we 
  know 
  that 
  there 
  are 
  opportunities 
  in 
  the 
  

   history 
  of 
  the 
  germ-cells 
  for 
  the 
  dropping 
  out 
  of 
  hereditary 
  

   items. 
  There 
  are 
  also 
  variations 
  which 
  consist 
  in 
  new 
  

   arrangements 
  of 
  ancestral 
  characters, 
  as 
  when 
  the 
  progeny 
  

   of 
  black 
  and 
  yellow 
  rabbits 
  are 
  grey. 
  Many 
  apparently 
  

   novel 
  features 
  are 
  just 
  old 
  characters 
  in 
  new 
  guise. 
  This 
  

   again 
  is 
  not 
  difficult 
  to 
  understand 
  in 
  a 
  general 
  way. 
  But 
  

   the 
  kind 
  of 
  variation 
  before 
  which 
  we 
  are 
  dumb 
  is 
  the 
  

   brusque 
  origin 
  of 
  something 
  distinctively 
  novel, 
  a 
  new 
  pat- 
  

   tern, 
  an 
  originality. 
  And 
  unless 
  one 
  is 
  to 
  make 
  the 
  assump- 
  

   tion 
  that 
  every 
  character 
  was 
  given 
  in 
  the 
  first 
  organisms 
  

   and 
  that 
  evolution 
  is 
  only 
  unrolling, 
  time 
  counting 
  for 
  

   nothing, 
  we 
  are 
  bound 
  to 
  assume 
  that 
  these 
  momentous 
  

   new 
  departures 
  have 
  been 
  of 
  frequent 
  occurrence 
  all 
  down 
  

   the 
  ages. 
  Our 
  suggestion 
  meanwhile 
  is 
  simply 
  an 
  assump- 
  

   tion 
  that 
  organisms 
  are 
  essentially 
  creative. 
  Even 
  the 
  in- 
  

   organic 
  has 
  a 
  tendency 
  to 
  complexify 
  ; 
  a 
  fortiori 
  the 
  organic. 
  

   The 
  chemist 
  is 
  always 
  turning 
  out 
  new 
  carbon-compounds, 
  

   the 
  organism 
  is 
  an 
  unconsciously 
  inventive 
  chemist. 
  The 
  

   same 
  chemical 
  substance 
  can 
  sometimes 
  crystallise 
  in 
  more 
  

   than 
  one 
  way 
  we 
  know 
  the 
  variety 
  of 
  snow 
  crystals 
  so, 
  

   but 
  with 
  infinitely 
  more 
  subtlety, 
  may 
  the 
  germ-cell 
  experi- 
  

   ment 
  with 
  its 
  own 
  architecture, 
  or 
  trade 
  with 
  its 
  environment 
  

   in 
  adventurous 
  differentiation. 
  Just 
  as 
  an 
  intact 
  organism 
  

   from 
  the 
  Amoeba 
  to 
  the 
  Elephant 
  tries 
  experiments, 
  so 
  the 
  

   germ-cell, 
  which 
  is 
  no 
  ordinary 
  cell, 
  but 
  an 
  implicit 
  organism, 
  

  

  