CHAPTER XIV. 



THE FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES OF LIVING MATTER. 



Specks of Living Matter unfold into known Fonns. This also the 

 case with Crystalline Matter. Powerful influence of ' Conditions ' 

 over Crystalline form. Transitions between Crystalline and Organic 

 Forms. Organic Polarities shown by phenomena of Repair and 

 Gemmation. Gradual limitation of Reproductive Faculty. Cause 

 and Explanation of Gemmiparous Reproduction. Explanation of 

 Reproduction of higher Organisms. Phenomena of Heredity. 

 Nature of Germ-cells and Sperm-cells. ' Physiological units' versus 

 ' Pangenesis.' Heredity the Conservative Agency. How potent, 

 and why, in complex Organisms. Lower Organisms more and 

 more free from influence of Heredity. Potency of ' Conditions ' 

 over Forms of lowest Organisms and Crystals. How to account 

 for Origin of present lowest Organisms. Either from Archaic 

 Ancestors or else comparatively New Products. Probability, and 

 proof, of latter view. Explanation of similarity between pre-existing 

 low Organisms and those producible de novo. Fundamental cause 

 of organic ' Reproduction,' Same Molecular Laws governing the 

 production of Crystals and Organisms respectively. Transitions 

 between not-living and ' living ' matter.- Highest modes of Mole- 

 cular Composition in other Planets and Systems. 



WHEN specks of living matter appear de novo in 

 any fluid, they soon assume one or other of the 

 shapes v^ith which v^^e are more or less familiar, just as 

 specks of crystalline matter, of vv^hatsoever nature they 

 may be — whether previously known or altogether new — 



