102 Heredity, 



and comparatively slight differences, all of wliicli have 

 been recently acquired. 



If a perfect animal could be develo2:)ed from the sper- 

 matozoon of a male parent, as it can be, in cases of 

 parthenogenesis, from the ovum of a female parent, we 

 should have a means of proving that each sex transmits 

 its entire organization to its offspring. 



The phenomena of parthenogenesis prove that the 

 female does actually thus transmit its entire organiza- 

 tion, but there is nothing to show that the male parent 

 does also, for it is clear that, from the nature of the 

 case, the phenomena of crossing are incompetent to 

 prove it. 



The Argument from the Homology of the Male and 

 Female Sexual Elements. 



Many authors have gone much further than the state- 

 ment that any characteristic whatever may be transmitted 

 by either parent, and have held that the offspring is ac- 

 tually a dual personality, made up of a complete organ- 

 ization or individuality inherited from the father, and 

 another, equally complete, inherited from the mother. 

 This view has found favor with a number of modern 

 writers, and frequently makes its appearance in the lite- 

 rature of the subject. 



Thus Huxley says {Encyclop. Brit., Art, Evolution), 

 '^It is conceivable, and indeed probable, that every part 

 of the adult contains molecules derived from the male 

 and from the female parent; and that, regarded as a 

 mass of molecules, the entire organism may be compared 

 to a web, of which the warp is derived from the female, 

 and the woof from the male. And each of these may 

 constitute an individuality in the same sense as the 

 whole organism is one individual, although the matter 

 of the organism has been continually changing." 



