208 WH AT IS LIFE 



definiteness and constancy of each species must be 

 determined by something equally definite and con- 

 stant in the egg, since in the latter the species is 

 already fixed irrevocably."^^ 



Bateson expressed the following opinion: "With- 

 out presuming to declare what future research only 

 can reveal, I anticipate that, when variation has been 

 properly examined .... the result will render the 

 natural definiteness of species increasingly appar- 

 ent."i9 



Since the authorities that have been quoted are 

 numbered among the staunchest adherents to the 

 doctrine of evolution, it is plain that the fact of the 

 observed specificity has been soberly stated. 



The experimental research that has been done on 

 cross-breeding, etc., does not offset or nullify the 

 difficulty that in geologic time certain species have 

 remained constant for millions of years. 



3. The greatest difficulty of the theory of descent 

 is that it is built on insecure bases and superficial 

 reasoning. {See p. 249.) 



On close examination, the bases turn out to be 

 exceedingly flimsy and insecure; consisting still, as 

 they do, of the same vague generalizations, super- 

 ficial inquiries, and loose reasoning from indefinite 



'* The Organism as a Whole, 43. 

 ^' Problems oj Genetics, 21. 



