PANGENESIS. 183 



and I shall never be able to give it up till a better one supplies 

 its place, and that I think hardly possible, &c.' Now his fore- 

 going [italicised] words express my sentiments exactly and 

 fully : though perhaps I feel the relief extra strongly from 

 having during many years vainly attempted to form some hypo- 

 thesis. When you or Huxley say that a single cell of a plant, or 

 stump of an amputated limb, has the ' potentiality ' of reproduc- 

 ing the whole— or * diffuses an influence,' these words give me 

 no positive idea ; — but, when it is said that the cells of a plant, 

 or stump, include atoms derived from every other cell of the 

 whole organism and capable of development, I gain a distinct 

 idea. But this idea would not be worth a rush, if it applied to 

 one case alone ; but it seems to me to apply to all the forms of 

 reproduction — inheritance— metamorphosis — to the abnormal 

 transposition of organs — to the direct action of the male 

 element on the mother plant, &c. Therefore I fully believe 

 that each cell does actttally throw off an atom or gem mule of 

 its contents ; — but whether or not, this hypothesis serves as 

 a useful connecting link for various grand classes of physio- 

 logical facts, which at present stand absolutely isolated." 



To V. Carus, March 2lst [1868]. 



". ... Sir C. Lyell says to every one, 'You may not 

 believe in "Pangenesis," but if you once understand it, you 

 will never get it out of your mind.' And with this criticism 

 I am perfectly content. All cases of inheritance and reversion 

 and development now appear to me under a new light." 



To Fritz Muller, June, 1868. 

 " I have yet hopes that you will think well of Pangenesis. 

 I feel sure that our minds are somewhat alike, and I find it a 

 great relief to have some definite, though hypothetical view, 

 when I reflect on the wonderful transformations of animals, — 

 the re-growth of parts,— and especially the direct action of 

 pollen on the mother-form, &c. It often appears to me almost 

 certain that the characters of the parents are 'photographed' 

 on the child, only by means of material atoms derived from 

 each cell in both parents, and developed in the child." 



