ON AROH^STHETISM. 407 



be cited, it can not be asserted that the nutrition of use is not 

 under the direct control of the jvill through the mediation of 

 nerve-force. Therefore I am disposed to believe that growth- 

 force may be, through the motive force of the animal, as readily 

 determined to a locality where an executive organ does not exist, 

 as to the first segment or cell of such an organ already com- 

 menced, and that therefore efior.t is;^_in_the order of time, the 

 first factor in acceleration." 



A difficulty in the way of this hypothesis is the frequently 

 unyielding character of the structures of adult animals, and the 

 difficulty of bringing sufficient pressure to bear on them without 

 destroying life. But in fact the modifications must, in most in- 

 stances, take place during the period of growth. It is well 

 known that the mental characteristics of the father are trans- 

 mitted through the spermatozooid, and that therefore the molec- 

 ular movements which produce the mechanism of such mental 

 characters must exist in the spermatozooid. But the material of 

 the spermatozooid is combined with that of the ovum, and the 

 embryo is composed of the united contents of both bodies. In a 

 wonderful way the embryo develops into a being which resembles 

 one or both parents in minute details. This result is evidently 

 determined by the molecular and dynamic character of the origi- 

 nal reproductive cells, which necessarily communicate their prop- 

 erties to the embryo, which is produced by their subdivision. 

 Rud. Hering has identified this property of the original cells with 

 the faculty of memory. This is a brilliant thought, and, under 

 restriction, probably correct. The sensations of j^ersons who have 

 suffered amputation shows that their sensorium retains a picture 

 or map of the body so far as regards the location of all its sensitive 

 regions. This simulacrum is invaded by consciousness whenever 

 the proper stimulus is applied,, and the locality of the stimulus is 

 fixed by it. This picture probably resides in many .of the cells, 

 both sensory and motor, and it doubtless does so in the few cells 

 of simple and low forms of life. The spermatozooid is such a 

 cell, and, how or why we know not, also contains such an ar- 

 rangement of its contents, and contains and communicates such 

 a type of force. It is probable that in the brain-cell this is the 

 condition of memory of locality. If now an intense and long- 

 continued pressure of stimulus produces an unconscious picture 

 of some organ of the body in the mind, tliere is reason to suppose 

 that the energies communicated to the embryo by the spermato- 



