110 HEREDITY. 



re-appear. Why did the gemmules lie dormant so 

 long ? 



The hypothesis does not explain the inherited 

 effects of the use and disuse of particular organs. 

 " A horse," says Darwin himself, " is trained to cer- 

 tain paces, and the colt inherits similar movements. 

 Nothing in the whole circuit of physiology is more 

 wonderful. How can the use or disuse of a particu- 

 lar limb or of the brain affect a small aggregate of 

 reproductive cells in such a manner that the being 

 developed from them inherits the characters of either 

 one or both parents ? Even an imperfect answer to 

 this question would be satisfactory." (Animals and 

 Plants wider Domestication, vol. ii. chap, x., American 

 edition, p. 367.) 



5. The theory of pangenesis explains every thing 

 by the elective affinities of gemmules for each other, 

 but leaves these elective affinities themselves unex- 

 plained. 



6. According to Darwin's own concessions, many 

 facts in hereditary descent are wholly inexplicable by 

 his hypothesis ; and his theory, " from presenting so 

 many vulnerable points, is always in jeopardy." 



7. The hypothesis is rejected by the foremost au- 

 thorities in the microscopical investigation of living 

 tissues. 



8. The theory is not needed, as all the facts it is 

 used to explain are accounted for by defining life 

 as the power which co-ordinates the movements of 

 germinal matter ; and by assuming, what all the 

 facts prove, that this power is transmitted in heredi- 

 tary descent. [Applause.] 



