202 THE HISTORY OF CREATION 



colour of the leaves. OfF-shoots from such copper-coloured 

 trees (for example, the copper beech), which have been 

 propagated by cuttings in a non-sexual manner, show the 

 peculiar colour and nature of the leaves which distinguished 

 the parental individual, while others reared from seeds of 

 such a copper-coloured tree return to the green-coloured 

 condition of leaf. 



This difference in inheritance will seem very natural when 

 we consider that the material connection between the pro- 

 ducing and produced individuals is much closer and lasts 

 much longer in non-sexual than in sexual propagation. The 

 special tendency of the molecular motion of life can there- 

 fore ^x itself much longer and more thoroughly in the filial 

 organism, and be more strictly transmitted by non-sexual 

 than by sexual propagation. All these phenomena, con- 

 sidered in connection, clearly prove that the transmission of 

 bodily and mental peculiarities is a purely material and 

 mechanical process. By propagation a greater or lesser 

 quantity of albuminous particles, and together with them the 

 individual form of motion inherent in these molecules of 

 protoplasm, are transmitted from the parental organism to 

 the offspring. As this form of motion remains continuous, 

 the more delicate peculiarities inherent in the parental 

 organism must sooner or later reappear in the filial 

 organism. 



