DR. ERASMUS DARWIN. 47 



so powerful an idea with Erasmus, that he sees it 

 (imitation) pass from cell to cell to the appearance of 

 even simultaneous disease ! Emotions are expressed by 

 imitation resting on fundamental organic conditions 

 ("all expression," Charles says later (ii. 142), " has some 

 biological meaning "). Fear, for example, is but the 

 repetition of our first cold shivering at birth; as our 

 smiles are but the ghosts of the relaxation of mouth and 

 face from repletion on our first meal ! Beauty is wholly 

 conditioned to us by the undulation of our nurse's bosom. 

 And so, said Sheridan, " I suppose that the child brought 

 up by hand would feel as much at the sight of a wooden 

 spoon ! " It is certainly surprising in these days of 

 artificial lactation that drunkenness is not upon the 

 increase from love of the bottle ! 



Erasmus has much here, in a similar reference, about 

 lambs wriggling their tails, cats playing their claws 

 while purring, etc. etc. He will not at all hold with 

 the capsular theory of embryos within embryos nucleus, 

 nucleolus, nucleololus, "like the cups of a conjuror "- 

 to the mvolution into a single atom of the universe, 

 with evolution and re-involution of universes without 

 end, as seems to be a favourite opinion of Mr. Huxley's. 

 Erasmus declares himself to see in such ideas only the 

 fact of impossible minuteness. It is just possible, there- 

 fore, that the grandfather might have rejected the very 

 " gemmules " of his grandson ; who, however, hopes (193) 

 that some one hereafter may be led to verify the hypo- 

 thesis (Pangenesis), in which case, says Mr. Darwin, I 

 shall be found " to have done good service ! " 



Erasmus, like Charles, is perfectly aware of the extra- 

 ordinary results of intentional breeding, as in horses, 

 dogs, rabbits, pigeons. And he can see such changes 

 become hereditary ; the biceps of the smith, the calves 

 of the chairman, the back of the rope-dancer even 



