THE REPRESENTATION OF ANCESTORS 125 



what none will dispute, that the germ-plasm is the bearer of 

 hereditary tendencies or potentialities, and that according to the 

 nature of the latter is the nature of the individual which springs 

 from the germ-cell. Further, we have supposed, what very few 

 will dispute, and what indeed is implied in the theory of continuity, 

 that the germ-cell receives no living elements from the somatic 

 cells, but only shelter and nutrition. It is a unicellular organism 

 living in the midst of a community which is the multicellular 

 organism. From our point of view, therefore, individuals, for 

 example men, are nothing more than dwellings which the germ- 

 plasm builds about its germinal descendants. It follows but 

 here we are contradicted by the language of all biological literature 

 that the child inherits nothing from his parent. He resembles 

 his parent only because he mimics the development of the latter, 

 only because his development was directed by a split-off portion 

 of the germ-plasm that directed the development of his parent. 

 Yet again, we have insisted that it is quite inconceivable that the 

 development of the multicellular individual can be other than a re- 

 capitulation, more or less altered, of the life-history of his race. 



206. If we are right, then, necessarily, such progressive 

 variations of the ancestors as have not been lost through retro- 

 gression, and therefore are reproduced in development, appear 

 in the order in which they occurred during evolution, the sole 

 exception being interpolated variations. In a general sense, 

 therefore, successive generations of ancestors are represented 

 (mimicked) during development in order, beginning with the 

 unicellular organism which is represented by the germ-cell, and 

 ending with such progressive variations of the preceding genera- 

 tions as are reproduced by the last generation. We must think 

 in terms of the germ-plasm, however, and bear in mind that, since 

 retrogression is constantly at work, even in characters that on the 

 whole are progressive ; since, while some characters have undergone 



which I have endeavoured to place before the reader is that of a substance which 

 contains, or is, in some way, associated with the hereditary tendencies which direct 

 development. I suppose that the germ-plasms which direct the development of 

 any two individuals differ qualitatively somewhat. Whether or not the germ- 

 plasm consists of discrete units, each ofjwhich contains all the hereditary tendencies, 

 and one of which wholly or principally directs development, is a question I do not 

 discuss : I know of no facts bearing on the matter and no means of testing the 

 thinking. But, as will be seen, I do very strongly protest against the hypothesis 

 that the germ-plasm consists of discrete particles each of which represents a 

 particular ancestor. That hypothesis, I think, is not only not warranted by 

 valid evidence, but is negatived by the high probability that the germ-plasm is 

 continuous in a real sense from generation to generation. 



