igS THE HISTORY OF CREATION. 



connected. The parthenogenesis of Insects must probably 

 be regarded as a rela'pae from the sexual mode of propaga- 

 tion (possessed by the original parents of the insects) to the 

 earlier condition of non-sexual propagation. (Gen. Morph. 

 ii. 86). In any case, however, sexual reproduction, both in 

 plants and animals, which seems such a wonderful process, 

 has only arisen at a later date out of the more ancient 

 process of non-sexual reproduction. In both cases heredity 

 is a necessary part of the phenomenon. 



In all the different modes of propagation the essential 

 point of the process is invariably a detachment of a portion 

 of the parental organism possessing the capability of leading 

 an individual, independent existence. We may, therefore, in 

 all cases expect, d 'priori, that the produced individuals— 

 which are, in fact, as is commonly said, " the flesh and 

 blood " of the parents — ^will receive the vital characteristics 

 and qualities of form which the parental individuals possess. 

 It is simply a larger or smaller quantity of the parental 

 material, in fact of its albuminous protoplasm, or cell- 

 substance, which passes to the produced individual. But 

 together with the material, its vital properties — that is, the 

 molecular motions of the plasma — are transmitted, which 

 then manifest themselves in its form. Inheritance by sexual 

 breeding loses very much of the mysterious and wonderful 

 character which it at first sight possesses for the uninitiated, 

 if we consider the above-mentioned series of the different 

 modes of propagation, and their connection one with another. 

 It at first appears exceedingly wonderful that in the sexual 

 propagation of man, and of all higher animals, the small 

 Qgg, the minute cell, often invisible to the naked eye, is 

 able to transfer to the produced organism all the qualities 



