﻿LECTURE 
  VIII 
  

  

  LATENT 
  CHARACTERS 
  

  

  No 
  organism 
  exhibits 
  all 
  of 
  its 
  qualities 
  at 
  

   any 
  one 
  time. 
  Many 
  of 
  them 
  are 
  generally 
  

   dormant 
  and 
  await 
  a 
  period 
  of 
  activity. 
  For 
  

   some 
  of 
  them 
  this 
  period 
  comes 
  regularly, 
  while 
  

   in 
  others 
  the 
  awakening 
  depends 
  upon 
  external 
  

   influences, 
  and 
  consequently 
  occurs 
  very 
  irreg- 
  

   ularly. 
  Those 
  of 
  the 
  first 
  group 
  correspond 
  to 
  

   the 
  differences 
  in 
  age 
  ; 
  the 
  second 
  constitute 
  the 
  

   responses 
  of 
  the 
  plant 
  to 
  stimuli 
  including 
  

   wound-injuries. 
  

  

  Some 
  illustrative 
  examples 
  may 
  be 
  quoted 
  in 
  

   order 
  to 
  give 
  a 
  precise 
  idea 
  of 
  this 
  general 
  con- 
  

   ception 
  of 
  dormant 
  or 
  latent 
  characters. 
  Seed- 
  

   leaves 
  are 
  only 
  developed 
  in 
  the 
  seed 
  and 
  the 
  

   seedling; 
  afterwards, 
  during 
  the 
  entire 
  life- 
  

   time 
  of 
  the 
  plant, 
  the 
  faculty 
  of 
  producing 
  them 
  

   is 
  not 
  made 
  use 
  of. 
  Every 
  new 
  generation 
  of 
  

   seeds 
  however, 
  bears 
  the 
  same 
  kind 
  of 
  seed- 
  

   leaves, 
  and 
  hence 
  it 
  is 
  manifest 
  that 
  it 
  is 
  

   the 
  same 
  quality, 
  which 
  shows 
  itself 
  from 
  time 
  

   to 
  time. 
  

  

  216 
  

  

  