74 SUPER-ORGANIC EVOLUTION 



of crystallisation in which the crystals take form, 

 increase, and reconstitute themselves in the mother- 

 solution ; and the cells, equally, in the medium in 

 which they take form in Nature, and by virtue of 

 the rhythms they engender, reproduce the same 

 form and size in their obedience, like the crystals, 

 to an unalterable mechanism. And we can repeat 

 what we said before, that the form is the resultant 

 of a system of rhythms. 



All these phases of cellular division we should 

 admire if the phenomena of conjugation did not 

 exist that is to say, the union of the male and 

 female cells, which gives great importance and 

 signification to the phenomena of karyokinesis, and 

 hence to the universal mechanics. The fecundation 

 in virtue of which the ovum cell joins with the 

 spermatic cell is a fact which increases the interest 

 of karyokinesis. The cellular division generally 

 takes place as explained, but when it is a question 

 of formation of a new being, the progenitor elements 

 present phenomena of an extraordinary importance, 

 which prove that Nature in the smallest point 

 ensures the most rigorous numerical exactitude. 



The zoospore, like the ovum, represents an 

 equilibrium of forces, and for the establishment of 

 the affinity and attraction which leads to union 

 there succeeds what is called the reduction of 



