Descent of Man. 241 



we assume that no organism reproduced itself except 

 the last. 



Reproduction, consequently, is the phenomenon 

 which marks the completion of a generic organism, 

 the end of its series of susceptible transformations, 

 beyond which (except in slight modifications of form 

 and colour, whereby it is arbitrarily classed into 

 different species or varieties) it cannot pass. Thus 

 the amoeba by undergoing fission, and the volvox 

 by copulating, never surmount the protozoic sub- 

 kingdom ; while the caterpillar and the tad-pole by 

 not reproducing, metamorphose higher. 



Reproduction is thus the supreme aim and end of all 

 existence, the goal of nature, the purpose of creative 

 activity, the prize of life, which, being won, nature is 

 bankrupt, nothing more can be attained and nothing 

 gained. It is the apex of universal being, after which 

 comes the coffin. 



That primordial man, as well as the original 

 ancestors of all the leading genera of animals, was 

 also evolved by a series of moults or metamorphoses,* 

 assisted and modified more or less by the agencies 

 graphically described in current theories of selection 

 — i.e., "natural" (Darwin), "physiological" (G. J. 

 Romanes), " colour " (A. R. Wallace), and " embryo- 

 logical " (Herbert Spencer), — is thus not without 

 circumstantial evidence. The time which each organ- 

 ism required to develop in this way from its auto- 

 matically created ovule is, however, a subject for 



* Virtually Metamorphological Selection. 



Q 



