X.] PANGENESIS. 231 



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

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

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

 dinating and regulating all the movements, acts, and func- 

 tions of the individuals in which it is incarnated. For 

 Pangenesis of the individual is a term without meaning. 

 If, in contemplating an animal of high organization, we 

 regard it purely as an aggregation of developed gemmules, 

 although these gemmules have been evolved successively 

 one after the other, and one within the other, notwith- 

 standing they elude the conception of the real and true 

 individual, these problematical and invisible gemmules 

 must be regarded as so many individuals. Now, that real, 

 true, living individuals exist in Nature, is a truth which is 

 persistently attested to us by our consciousness. But how, 

 then, can we explain that a great quantity of dissimilar 

 elements, like the atoms of matter, can unite to form those 

 perfect unities which we call individuals, if we do not sup- 

 pose the existence of a specific principle, proper to the 

 individual but foreign to the component atoms, which 

 aggregates these said atoms, groups them into molecules, 

 and then moulds the molecules into cells, the cells into 

 tissues, the tissues into organs, and the organs into appa- 

 ratus ? " 



" But, it may be urged in opposition by the Pangene- 

 sists, your vital principle is an unknown and irresolute x. 

 This is true ; but, on the other hand, let us see whether 

 Pangenesis produces a clearer formula, and one free from 

 unknown elements. The existence of the gemmules is a 

 first unknown element ; the propagative affinity of the gem- / 

 mules is a second ; their germinative affinity is a third ; their 1 

 multiplication by fission is a fourth and what an unknown .* 

 element ! " 



" Thus, in Pangenesis, every thing proceeds by force of 

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



