LIVERPOOL MICRO, SOCIETY.—PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 65 
very different sizes before dividing ; but when this is reached it 
divides itself into two smaller ones, each similar to and possessing 
the same qualities as its predecessor. So with the lower ciliated 
and flagellated infusoria to which I have already alluded, and 
which seem to belong to either or neither kingdom, the same 
rule obtains ; the cell dividing into two smaller ones, which grow 
and in their turn divide ; the organism never changing to anything 
else, and the case is the same when they multiply by another mode 
than that of fission. And so as we ascend the scale of life we find 
it is the same: there is no change. The primary cell of an oak 
never produces anything but an oak, or that of a dog anything but 
a dog, and so we have the likeness perpetuated. Not only, how- 
ever, are the broad general features of the plant or animal repro- 
duced, but also, in many cases at least, the peculiar characteristics 
of the individual, and these, if beneficial, z.e., favourable to the 
welfare of the individual, after transmission through many 
generations, having meantime been intensified by natural 
selection, become permanent, and so tend to the establishment of 
new species. In the animal kingdom not only are physical 
qualities transmitted, but instinctive also; might we not say 
mental as regards some of the higher animals? At all events, 
instincts are transmitted in a remarkable. degree through the 
whole of animal life except, perhaps, the very lowest, and we 
might even find the same things there had we the means and 
opportunity of observing with sufficient accuracy. On the prin- 
ciple, however, that the greater includes the lesser, let us take this 
question of transmission in connection with the highest animal— 
man—and see if we can in any way understand or explain it ; if 
we can solve the difficulty in his case, we can readily do so in all 
others, and there are also other advantages in so taking it. The 
most common and most readily observed of physical characteristics 
transmitted is the resemblance of the offspring to one or both 
parents in feature and form, which, in some cases, is very marked, 
and accompanying this, or without it, little tricks of manner, 
peculiarity of gait, and so forth, are frequently inherited. In some 
cases, of course, these last may be the result of imitation, but not 
always, as they are known to occur where the opportunity for 
imitation does not exist. Then various personal deformities are 
frequently transmitted: for instance strabismus, and various 
diseases, or the tendency to them, as gout, epilepsy, &c. We well 
know, also, that the mental peculiarities of one or both parents are 
often inherited by the offspring in a remarkable degree, such 
as aptness or talent for music, painting, literature, science, and 
other things, for though this is not universal its occurrence is 
‘sufficiently frequent to establish it as a fact. We may even 
go further, and say, without much fear of contradiction, that 
