darwin's theory of pangenesis. 99 



about of all these gemmules, under merely chemical 

 and physical forces, what keeps these three particles 

 from ever getting out of place ? How much must be 

 meant by elective affinities in Darwin's hypothesis? 

 It can be called a theory only by courtesy. 



Materialism assures us that a co-ordinating power 

 independent of matter is a dream, a poetic idea ! 

 Huxley says that " a mass of living protoplasm is 

 simply a molecular machine of great complexity, the 

 total results of the working of which, or its vital 

 phenomena, depend, on the one hand, on its con- 

 struction, and, on the other, upon the energy sup- 

 plied to it ; and to speak of vitality as any thing but 

 the name of a series of operations is as if one should 

 talk of the horologity of a clock." (Encyc. Brit., 

 art. " Biology.") Huxley is not a materialist, you 

 say ; but I must judge men by their definitions, and, 

 although there are many schools of materialism, I 

 affirm that this definition of Huxley's represents one 

 of the most dangerous materialistic schools ; for it 

 assumes that the forces at work in the formation of 

 the organism are merely chemical and mechanical. 

 There is no life, no co-ordinating power, behind the 

 tissues. 



If, therefore, you build your theory of descent on 

 the mechanical and chemical forces merely, you must 

 rest the weight of your case on that word " affinity." 

 There are elective affinities between the qemmules 

 of the different parts of an organism ; and the result 

 of these affinities is to put the germinal points to- 

 gether in the right order, so that the resulting animal 



