HEREDITY 191 



expected difference, equal in this case to 43 units, 

 it is because in this interval one fails to discover 

 a simple body. When the illustrious chemist 

 Mendeleef published his table some bodies were 

 unknown, such as Sc = 45, Ga = 70, and Gr = 72 ; 

 but he had foretold their discovery in describing their 

 properties, and having already marked in the table 

 the appropriate places. 



On studying Mendeleef s table one sees, both in 

 the vertical and in the horizontal order, bodies are 

 arranged regularly, and each element has systemati- 

 cally its destined place : this is truly wonderful, 

 and one understands the great success this table 

 obtained on presenting all the simple bodies in an 

 ordered plan. Now, this can only be understood 

 by the rhythm of force, here quoted to prepare the 

 reader's mind, so that, by means of an analogy 

 (since it is not possible at the present stage of 

 science to give a proof), we may understand that in 

 organised bodies there also exists a rhythm, and 

 these beings, like simple bodies, are reproduced 

 under the same form, because, as in Mendeleef 's 

 table, they also have their place and rhythm 

 marked. Simple bodies and all organised beings 

 are the concrete form, the potential force, the echo, 

 as it were, of that other living force whose rhythm 

 they reproduce, as the sands the vibrations of the 

 air. We regard embryology and comparative 



