ON THE VITALISTIC VIEW OF NATURE. 455 



called cells which, through growth and reproduction by 

 division and fusion, maintain life as a continuous unique 

 phenomenon. 



Into this view, which under the special form of 

 pangenesis has not found much favour, but which, 

 nevertheless, in some form or other, forces itself more 

 and more on our attention, Professor Weismann has 

 imported a further distinctive feature, not prominently 

 brought out by Darwin, though it also dates farther 

 back l than the present generation. 



1 The history of the knowledge 

 and theory of sex and heredity has 

 been written in English by Profs. 

 Patrick Geddes and J. Arthur 

 Thomson, in a book entitled ' The 

 Evolution of Sex ' (1st ed. 1889) ; in 

 French by M. Yves Delage, in his 

 much-quoted work, ' La Structure 

 du Protoplasma et les Theories sur 

 1'He're'dite' et les grands probl ernes 

 de la Biologic' (1895). The latter 

 work contains elaborate criticisms, 

 and finally inclines towards a theory 

 of life termed in France " Organi- 

 cisme," the main idea of which is 

 the assumption of two distinctive 

 factors in all the phenomena of 

 living matter viz., "Organisation 

 and Environment." This view, 

 according to the author, has not 

 yet gained sufficient strength to 

 form a definite current of thought 

 like the three earlier views de- 

 fined by the terms " Animisme," 

 " Evolutionisme," " Microm^risme." 

 The first of these centres in the idea 

 of vital force, the second in the 

 older school of evolution ; the last 

 begins with Buffon, and comprises 

 the modern theory of Evolution with 

 Spencer, Darwin, Haeckel, Weis- 

 mann. Of the last M. Delage 

 says: "Ce dernier est, pour le 

 moment, 1'ouvrage le plus parfait 

 crde" pour expliquer I'He're'dite' et 



1'Evolution. Nous croyons avoir 

 montre qu'il est bati d'hypotheses 

 fragiles, invraisemblables, et, tout 

 en rendant justice au talent de 

 son architecte, nous conseillons de 

 1'admirer de loin et de construire 

 ailleurs" (p. 837). " Organicisme " 

 is represented by W. Roux, Driesch, 

 and 0. Hertwig, and is historically 

 traced back to Descartes (p. 838), 

 and to von Baer and Claude Bernard 

 (p. 720). To the theories of the 

 others, "les Organicistes opposent 

 le concours d'une determination 

 mode're'e' et des forces ambiantes 

 toujours agissantes, toujours ndces- 

 saires, non comme simple condition 

 d'activite", mais comme e'le'ment 

 essentiel de la de" termination finale " 

 (p. 720). As in this account the 

 names of Roux, Driesch, and O. 

 Hertwig are placed together, it is 

 well to remark that since that time 

 the two last-named authorities have 

 in various polemical publications 

 signified the divergence of their 

 fundamental conclusions from the 

 later attitude which Prof. Roux 

 has assumed. For those of my 

 readers who desire to get some 

 insight into the drift of this most 

 recent and advanced controversy, 

 in which questions of principle, of 

 scientific and philosophical method, 

 alternate with discussions of minute 



