MATJDSLEY ON HEREDITARY DESCENT. 51 



that there cannot come out of the germ of the lion 

 a swallow, nor out of the germ of the swallow a lion. 

 Every thing under the law of hereditary descent 

 breeds true to its kind. I do not see that there is 

 the slightest evidence that this co-ordinating power 

 is increased. The reply to Maudsley is, therefore, 

 contained in that definition of life upon which I 

 have just insisted. Give me, as a statement of what 

 life means, this phrase, the co-ordinating power which 

 directs the movements of germinal matter, and I will 

 defy Maudsley to prove that the co-ordinating power 

 is increased by the growth of organisms ; for just as 

 much of it is needed in these first strokes as in the 

 last, and one would think a good deal more. [Ap- 

 plause.] 



Very great conclusions follow from defining life as 

 the co-ordinating power directing the movements of 

 germinal matter : 



6. The first law of hereditary descent is, that every 

 living thing reproduces its own kind, and no other 

 kind. 



7. The co-ordinating power which we call life lies 

 behind this law of hereditary descent. 



8. A cause must precede its effect. 



9. The co-ordinating power which is the cause of 

 form in organisms must exist before the organization 

 which it causes. 



Even Hackel and Huxley hold that life is the cause 

 of organization, and not organization of life. 



10. Transmitted co-ordinating power, therefore, 

 does not depend on a physical environment for its 



