340 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



they are, no one at present can express. The fact that 

 all organic beings are endowed with the property of 

 Eeproduction, which manifests itself under the forms 

 of Growth, Gemmation, and Generation, must, for the 

 present at least, be accepted as an ultimate fact, not 

 permitting dispute, not admitting explanation. Whe- 

 ther new individuals or only new parts of individuals, 

 are reproduced, the fundamental process is the same. 

 Whether the animal produce cells which increase as 

 buds, or as eggs, the process is the same. Whether 

 the egg develop under the influence of fertilisation, or 

 without that influence, the process is the same. Whe- 

 ther the union of two cells, followed by continuous fis- 

 sion, be taken as the starting-point, or whether the 

 continuous fissions proceed without any union, every- 

 where the one law of Eeproduction — the fundamental 

 property of Growth — meets us as the ultimate fact, the 

 great terminal mystery ; and the simplest form under 

 which this process is known to us is the spontaneous 

 subdivision of a cell. Thus, to borrow Goethe's words — 



" All the forms resemble, yet none is the same as another ; 

 Thus the whole of the throng points at a deep-hidden law. 

 Points at a sacred riddle."* 



The sacred riddle awaits its CEdipus, and probably 

 will for ever remain unanswered. 



* Die Metamorpliosen der Pflanzen. 



