PHILOSOPHY OF BREEDING. 173 



primal force derived through inheritance in the process of 

 development and nutritive repetition, then decay is but a 

 question of time, for without renewal there can be no lasting 

 continuance ; for force cannot be created — it can be only appro- 

 priated through changes of matter. 



The ideal cell repeats itself through the force which is 

 stored within it. As forces have been received by the parent 

 cell through nutrition, and as force must have been used by 

 this cell in the support of the processes which accompany 

 vitality, this cell cannot transmit itself, as itself was when first 

 formed, to its own offspring, but transmits those forces only 

 which itself possesses at the time of the generation or produc- 

 tion of the offspring. Each cell, it is thus perceived, possesses 

 within itself the concrete force received from its progenitors, 

 and the additional or lessened force brought about by the 

 circumstances of its own environment, the sum being the 

 concrete force to be in turn transmitted to its own descend- 

 ants. As the environment increases in complexity there is a 

 constant demand upon the cell for changes sufficient to enable 

 it to meet this new condition of affairs. If there is not enough 

 force to the cell to respond, it languishes and perishes. If 

 the force is sufficient to enable the cell to meet the new 

 demands, development follows. 



From these remarks will be inferred what the process of 

 development indicates" to observation, that progress is in the 

 line within which, and in the sequence through which the 

 forces which make up the concrete force was received. Each 

 cell has, therefore, if not interfered with by environment, a 

 primal force which rules at what successive development any 

 change must take place ; for if our views are correct, each 

 change must be influenced by the change which has pre- 

 ceded it. 



Growth is distinct from development, and does not require 

 such a high vitality, or impressed force on the tissues, which 

 compose the substance of the part which is to receive it. A 

 force, therefore, which may be insufficient to continuously 

 develop a portion may be sufficient to preserve form and 

 function unchanged for a time at the extreme limit of the 

 power of the developmental forces, and even to produce 

 increase of bulk, as is so well shown by those cases of arrested 



