AMPHIMIXIS OR THE ESSENTIAL 



MEANING OF CONJUGATION AND 



SEXUAL REPRODUCTION. 



PREFACE. 



The present treatise brings to a conclusion a series of essays 

 upon biological problems which have appeared in the course of 

 the last ten years. They commenced with an enquiry into the 

 duration of life, which led on to the question of the biological 

 origin of death, and then turned to certain phenomena of 

 inheritance and reproduction. They endeavoured to ascertain 

 with certainty and to elucidate the real conditions of these 

 phenomena, and to search out their essence and significance. 



I shall attempt to explain, as clearly as possible, the close con- 

 nexion existing between certain apparently isolated problems 

 and the subject of this essay, which, although mainly concerned 

 with so-called ' sexual reproduction,' is in reality the keystone 

 of the whole structure. My object is to express more fully 

 than before, the thought that the process which we are 

 accustomed to regard as reproduction, is not reproduction only, 

 but contains something sui generis^ something which may be 

 connected with reproduction proper, and in the higher plants 

 and animals is so connected, but which is entirely separate in 

 the lower organisms. I shall show that its significance does 

 not lie in the maintenance of life but in the mingling of 

 individualities. 



