Chap. XXVIL OF PANGENESIS. 393 



still further as previously explained, but this will not account 

 for the complete or almost complete obliteration of, for 

 instance, a minute papilla of cellular tissue representing a 

 pistil, or of a microscoj)ically minute nodule of bone repre- 

 senting a tooth. In certain cases of suppression not yet 

 completed, in which a rudiment occasionally reappears 

 through reversion, dispersed gemmules derived from this part 

 must, according to our view, still exist ; we must therefore 

 suppose that the cells, in union with which the rudiment was 

 formerly developed, fail in their affinity for such gemmules, 

 except in the occasional cases of reversion. But when the 

 abortion is complete and final, the gemmules themselves no 

 doubt perish ; nor is this in any way improbable, for, though 

 a vast number of active and long-dormant gemmules are 

 nourished in each living creature, yet there must be some 

 limit to their number ; and it appears natural that gemmules 

 derived from reduced and useless parts would be more liable 

 to perish than those freshly derived from other parts which 

 are still in full functional activity. 



The last subject that need be discussed, namely, Reversion, 

 rests on the princij)le that transmission and development, 

 though generally acting in conjunction, are distinct powers ; 

 and the transmission of gemmules with their subsequent 

 development shows us how this is possible. We plainly see 

 the distinction in the many cases in which a grandfather 

 transmits to his grandson, through his daughter, characters 

 which she does not, or cannot, possess. But before proceeding, 

 it will be advisable to say a few words about latent or 

 dormant characters. Most, or perhaps all, of the secondary 

 characters, which appertain to one sex, lie dormant in the 

 other sex ; that is, gemmules capable of development into the 

 secondary male sexual characters are included within the 

 female ; and conversely female characters in the male : we 

 have evidence of this in certain masculine characters, both 

 corporeal and mental, appearing in the female, when her 

 ovaria are diseased or when they fail to act from old age. In 

 like manner female characters appear in castrated males, as 

 in the shape of the horns of the ox, and in the absence of 

 horns in castrated stags. Even a slight change in the 



