Lecture VIII 



LATENT CHARACTERS 



No organism exhibits all of its qualities at 

 any one time. Many of them are generally 

 dormant and await a period of activity. For 

 some of them this period comes regularly, while 

 in others the awakening depends upon external 

 influences, and consequently occurs very irreg- 

 ularl3^ Those of the first group correspond to 

 the differences in age ; the second constitute the 

 responses of the plant to stimuli including 

 wound-injuries. 



Some illustrative examples may be quoted in 

 order to give a precise idea of this general con- 

 ception of dormant or latent characters. Seed- 

 leaves are only developed in the seed and the 

 seedling; afterwards, during the entire life- 

 time of the plant, the faculty of producing them 

 is not made use of. Every new generation of 

 seeds however, bears the same kind of seed- 

 leaves, and hence it is manifest that it is 

 the same quality, which shows itself from time 

 to time. 



216 



