i] IDEA OF INDIVIDUALITY 19 



exist actual and patent in a given mass of protoplasm, 

 and yet can also exist, though latent and potential 

 only, in any and every part of that mass above 

 a certain minimum size. Break off a Begonia leaf 

 and chop it into little bits ; each bit reveals its latent 

 power, sending roots downward, shoots upwards, and 

 at the last becoming a self-sufficient whole. Through 

 this regulatory power, Life has been able to save 

 herself a tossing from her dilemma, escaping, like 

 a Minoan acrobat, between the very horns : through 

 it she has the possibility of reproduction. 



The essence of reproduction is that one individual 

 should create a new individual out of itself. The 

 parent may persist, as in man, after the offspring has 

 come into the world, or, as in Protozoa, may annihilate 

 itself in the very act ; that does not matter. What 

 matters is that in every species there exists a 

 succession of individuals in time, each one derived 

 from the very substance of an earlier, each one built 

 up and working on a common plan. Life has thus 

 been able to steer a middle course. In the higher 

 animals, for instance, she has perfected and used the 

 single individual up to a point, to procure the greatest 

 amount of independence for herself who animates his 

 frame ; then, when it becomes difficult, and more 

 difficult as time goes on, to maintain his supporting 

 tissues in repair and hold balanced the many pro- 

 cesses struggling within him, she calls in the power 



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