268 BIOLOGICAL LECTURES. 



to any number of possible reproductions. "I admit then," 

 says Bonnet, " as many primitive, descending orders of elements 

 as there are possible reproductions : for, as I have often re- 

 peated, / know of no mechanics capable of actually forming the 

 least fiber." (Paling., p. 271.) 



This concession might, at first sight, appear to lead in the 

 direction of epigenesis ; but, in reality, it is the same old nega- 

 tion multiplied to the utmost limit of organic elements. These 

 elements are no more numerous and no less preformed, when 

 conceived as individual germs, constituting a divisible whole, 

 than when conceived as continuous parU of an indivisible whole. 

 From Bonnet's standpoint, the innovation signified nothing but 

 subdivision, the total amount of preformation remaining prac- 

 tically the same as before. The germs reserved for regeneration 

 were simply cut to just the dimensions of the losses which they 

 were preordained to replace. The simplification in this direc- 

 tion Bonnet modestly credited, not to his own ingenuity, but to 

 Infinite Prescience. 



GERMS OF PARTS AND OF WHOLES. 



This extension of the doctrine of germs brought some con- 

 fusing distinctions in classification. It became necessary to 

 distinguish between germs of " little wholes" (parts) and germs 

 of "great wholes" (organisms); and among the former, the sim- 

 pler terms were held to be hardly worthy of the name of germ. 

 These could be called "constituent parts," or "elements," or, 

 if preferred, "germs," although they were " not proper germs." 



Here we come upon a distinction that serves to clear up the 

 obscurity respecting germs defined as "preordinations" and 

 " secret preorganizations," which were spoken of as not com- 

 plete enough to be called " proper germs." 



But if a germ lacks anything of completeness, can it be 

 completed by pure evolution without any epigenesis ? That 

 depends upon what we mean by " incomplete." If all the parts 

 are actually present, and in an order so preordained that they 

 will fall into the adult adjustment as they expand, then there 

 is no new formation. The evolution is free from the slightest 

 taint of epigenesis. Changes in form, arrangement, and con- 



