HEREDITY AND EVOLUTION 95 



theory, giving unceasing attention to a field remote 

 from that in which Darwin was a master. The 

 choice of standpoint marks an obvious advantage for 

 Weismann. He is a skilled explorer in the midst of 

 the intricacies of the early stages of germ -action, and 

 of development of life during the embryonic period. 

 These two fields of observation must at length coalesce, 

 if scientific results are to be reached. Each step in 

 advance, from whichever side taken, must carry some 

 promise of reconciliation, for it is impossible to doubt 

 that all organic variations must be included, and that 

 all of them are unfolded from the germ- cell within 

 which individual life begins. 



We are still, however, engaged in conjectures here, 

 and must be content for the present to consider the 

 balance of probabilities. Darwin adopted the hypo 

 thesis that the germ-cell receives contributions from 

 all the cells of the body, and thus contains the germs 

 of analogous parts for reproduction in the offspring. 

 This is the hypothesis known as Pangenesis, deriva 

 tion from the whole, in order to transmission of the 

 whole. The cell is taken as a miniature of the body. 

 This theory assumes that gemmules are thrown off 

 from each different cell or unit throughout the body, 

 which retain the characters of the cells from which 

 they spring ; that the gemmules aggregate themselves 

 either to form, or to become included within, the 

 reproductive cells ; and that in this manner they, 

 and the characters which they convey, are capable of 

 being transmitted in a dormant state to successive 

 generations, and to reproduce in them the likeness of 

 their parents, grandparents, and still older ancestors. 1 

 This hypothesis, though conjectural, faces the demand 



1 Sir W. Turner s Address, p. 3. 



