102 



admitted, however, that my theorj does not necessarily agrea with that used 

 in genetics, but is rather to be regarded as the latter theory expanded to the 

 utmost limit'\ 



Now, in order to help my readers to understand my theory, it is necessary 

 to insist on the law of substance, i.e. the conservation of energy and the 

 indestructibiHty of matter ; that the universe in its real entity is ever the 



same the same now as in the past and as in the futiu^e ; that it is only the 



phenomena wliich change fi"om time to time ; and that there can be neither 

 increase nor decrease iu its real entity. All individuals in the universe have 

 close relations with the whole (i.e. the universe), and their real entities are 

 something Uke the meshes of a net, whose therads extend in all directions 

 through the universe; some of the threads being represented by chemical 

 affinities or physical gravity. To divide the whole into parts is something 

 like moving the interwoven threads of meshes hither and thither with one's 

 fingers ; for, though the whole is divisible into parts as it seems, these parts 

 are still conuected one with another by the tlu-eads. Individuals though 

 they be called, they are not by any means in a condition of isolation, but 

 rather are closely related to the whole. Thus, as a part moves, so moves the 

 whole itself — that assemblage of many parts. 



All individuals aHke possess innumerable genes or factors''. Tlie 

 former present various phenomena according as, on the one hand, the latter 

 are potent or latent ; and on the other, according to the different combinations 

 or seggregations of potent genes. Consequently, the relation of one individual 

 to the others in phenomenal appearance is the relation of mutual participation 

 or sharing of potent and hitent genes in individuals. 



Tlien, too, aU genes in individuals may be apparent at one time and 

 latent at another, and may change their characters, according to conditions. 



1) Cf. MoEGAN, T. H. — The theory of the gene, in Ara. Nat. (1917) Vol. 51, pp. 513-520. 



2) My idea is somewhat comparable to Vines' opinion that "the ultimate members, root, 

 stem, leaf, may in this view be looked upon as potentially present even in the unicellular plant, 

 just as man is potentially in the Amoeba ; and their gradual unfolding is but a matter of time 

 nnd the realisation of their inherent tendency to complexity, much as we have in the spore or 



the ovtun the potentialities which we see reahsed as it grows into a plant." [Cf . Gueen, 



J.R — A History of Botany, (Oxford 1909) p. 83]. 



