CHAPTER II 



REPRODUCTION AND HEREDITY 



THE facts referred to at the close of the 

 last chapter prove that physical or ma- 

 terial life is regulated throughout by nat- 

 ural laws. These laws are just as natural 

 as the laws of chemistry and of physics, 

 and therefore science is properly con- 

 cerned in endeavoring to discover what 

 they are. This statement involves the 

 conclusion that each living form, whether 

 plant or animal, comes into being as nat- 

 urally as an icicle or a waterfall. But 

 this conclusion by no means implies that 

 the laws of life, however natural, are the 

 same in kind with other natural laws, such 

 as those of chemistry or of physics, or with 

 any conceivable modification of them. 

 This question must be judged on its own 

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