LIVERPOOL MICRO. SOCIETY.—PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 67 
Oviparl, it is evident that the ovum must represent both parents ; 
and so, I would infer, it is with the human ovum. Be this how- 
ever as it may (as respects maternal) it is certainly true that the 
paternal characteristics must be contained in the fertilizing cells, 
many thousands of which would go to make up a single grain weight, 
and be by them conveyed to the ovum. Thus we have a cell about 
the one hundred and twentieth of an inch in diameter, fertilised by 
cells almost infinitely smaller, which eventually develops into the 
perfect child; and the speck of protoplasm in this cell must con- 
tain and transmit qualities, peculiarities, and tendencies, physical, 
mental, and moral, which may largely affect the character, and 
consequently, perhaps, the destiny also, of the child—the most 
wonderful multum in parvo, I venture to say, which can be found 
within the whole range of human knowledge. The transmission 
of physical qualities is beyond our comprehension, how much more 
that of mental and moral. I think I am not wrong in speaking of 
this power as the most wonderful one possessed by protoplasm, and 
I must confess that when the full meaning of it first flashed across 
my mind (for I had only seen it referred to in a casual way, not 
calculated to attract much attention) I felt completely over- 
whelmed—just as one is by the idea of time and space without 
beginning or end, an idea too vast for the human mind to grasp— 
and much thinking over it since has scarcely diminished that feel- 
ing. There are many interesting questions which arise out of this 
subject which we cannot discuss or further refer to now. This 
view of transmission by protoplasm may by some be considered 
thoroughly rationalistic, and it certainly has that appearance, but 
perhaps is not really more so than views of many other effects of 
natural laws which are adopted without objection on that ground. 
At all events I feel bound to accept this view, and do not consider 
myself a materialist. Having now passed in review some of the 
most striking powers of protoplasm, let us briefly sum up and see 
what inference we may draw from them. We have seen that pro- 
toplasm has a power of assimilation—of converting other substances 
into its own likeness non-living into living matter ; that it is sensi- 
tive ; that it can build up the most beautiful structures of the most 
obstinate and unpromising materials, and that it can transmit 
hereditary qualities, physical, mental, and moral, from one genera- 
tion to another ; all these operations, and others to which we have 
not referred, being peculiar to itself and performed without any 
visible organs or organisation. Professor Allman has said, referring 
to protoplasm :—“‘ Examine it closer, bring to bear upon it the 
highest powers of your microscopes. You will probably find 
disseminated through it countless multitudes of exceedingly minute 
granules ; but you may also find it absolutely homogeneous, and, 
whether containing granules or not, you will find nothing to which 
