X.] PANGENESIS. 245 



To admit the power of spontaneous division and multi- 

 plication in such rudimentary structures seems a com- 

 plete contradiction. The gemmules, by the hypothesis of 

 Pangenesis, are the ultimate organized components of the 

 body, the absolute organic atoms of which each body is 

 composed ; how then can they be divisible ? Any part of 

 a gemmule would be an impossible (because a less than 

 possible) quantity. If it is divisible into still smaller 

 organic wholes, as a germ-cell is, it must be made up as the 

 germ-cell is, of subordinate component atoms, which are 

 then the true gemmules. This process may be repeated 

 ad infinitum, unless we get to true organic atoms, the true 

 gemmules, whatever they may be, and they necessarily will 

 be incapable of any process of spontaneous fission. It is 

 remarkable that Mr. Darwin brings forward in support 

 of gemmule fission the observation that " Thuret has 

 seen the zoospore of an alga divide itself, and both halves 

 germinate." Yet on the hypothesis of Pangenesis, the 

 zoospore of an alga must contain gemmules from all the 

 cells of the parent algse, and from all the parts of all their 

 less remote ancestors in all their stages of existence. What 

 wonder, then, that such an excessively complex body should 

 divide and multiply; and what parity is there between 

 such a body and a gemmule ? A steam-engine and a steel- 

 filing might equally well be compared together. 



Professor Delpino makes a further objection, which, how- 

 ever, will only be of weight in the eyes of Vitalists. He 

 says, 1 Pangenesis is not to be received because " it leads 

 directly to the negation of a specific vital principle, co- 

 ordinating and regulating all the movements, acts, and 

 functions of the individuals in which it is incarnated. For 



i Scientific Opinion of October 13, 1869, p. 408. 



