X] PANGENESIS. 247 



Mr. Darwin appears, by " Natural Selection/' to destroy 

 the reality of species, and by Pangenesis that of the indi- 

 vidual. Mr. Lewes observes ^ of the individual that " This 

 whole is only a subjective conception w^ich summarizes 

 the parts, and tliat in point of fact it is the parts which are 

 reproduced." But the parts are also, from the same point 

 of view, merely subjective until we come to the absolute 

 organic atoms. These atoms, on the other hand, are utterly 

 invisible, intangible ; indeed, in the words of Llr. Darwin, 

 inconceivable. Thus, then, it results from the theories in 

 question, that the organic world is reduced to utter un- 

 reality as regards all that can be perceived by the senses 

 or distinctly imagined by the mind ; while the only reality 

 consists of the invisible, the insensible, the inconceivable ; 

 in other words, nothing is known that really is, and only 

 the non-existent can be known. A somewhat paradoxical 

 outcome of the speculations of those who profess to rely 

 exclusively on the testimony of sense. " Les extremes se 

 touchent,'' and extreme sensationalism shakes hands with 

 the " das Seyn ist das nichts " of Hegel. 



Altogether, the hypothesis of Pangenesis seems to be 

 little, if at all, superior to earlier hypotheses of a more 

 or less similar nature. 



Apart from the atoms of Democritus, and apart also from 

 the speculations of mediaeval writers, the molecules of 

 Bonnet and of Buffon almost anticipated the hypothesis 

 of Pangenesis. According to the last-named author,^ 

 organic particles from every part of the body assemble in 



1 Fortnightly Review, New Series, vol. iii. April 1868, p. 509. 



2 " Histoire Naturelle, generale et particuliere," tome ii. 1749, p. 327. 

 ** Ces liqueurs seminales sout toutes deux un extrait de toutes les parties 

 du corps," &c, 



