Recapitulation and Conclusion. 315 



Darwin's reason for his statement that each sexual 

 element has the power to transmit every single character- 

 istic of the parent form, and that it is an error to suppose 

 that the male transmits certain characters and the female 

 other characters, is that when hybrids are paired and bred 

 inter se, the characters of either grandparent often re- 

 appear in the progeny. 



A little thought will show that it is impossible to prove 

 any such conclusion in this way. If two animals which 

 differ from each other in every respect could be made to 

 cross, the result would furnish conclusive evidence as to 

 the correctness or incorrectness of Darwin's statement, 

 but in any possible cross the parents are essentially alike, 

 and they differ only in minor features of recent acquisi- 

 tion. The possibility of parthenogenesis proves that the 

 ovum does transmit the entire organization, but it is im- 

 possible to show, from the phenomena of crossing, that 

 the male element has the same power. 



The reason given by Huxley for his opinion that an 

 animal inherits every characteristic of each parent, is that 

 the ovum and the male cell are homologous with each 

 other, and that all the cells of the body are descended, by 

 a process of division, from the compound germ which is 

 formed by their union. 



Homology, or similarity of origin, is no ground for 

 assuming similarity of function, and the fact that the 

 male cell and the egg are homologous with each other is 

 no reason whatever for a belief that their parts in hered- 

 ity are alike. 



The fact that either sex tl ,ay, under certain circum- 

 stances, acquire the secondary sexual characters of the 

 other, seems at first sight to show that the whole organi- 

 zation of the male exists in a potential and latent state 

 in the body of every female, and that the whole organi- 



