102 HEREDITY. 



of heaven, is simplicity. But these points of matter, 

 with nothing but chemical and physical forces be- 

 hind them, as Hackel and Huxley would say, or 

 with nothing but elective affinities behind them, as 

 Darwin would say, never make a mistake in a single 

 step. They come together, they arrange themselves, 

 they build a germ that will produce the lily of the 

 valley. They co-ordinate themselves so as to con- 

 stitute a seed which you cannot develop into any 

 thing but a lily of the valley if the gemmules come 

 from the lily, and into nothing but a lion or a man 

 if the gemmules have come from these organisms. 



Gemmules, it is supposed, will develop only in 

 union with nascent cells like those from which they 

 came. Here are three cells arranged in a series, and 

 the second grows out of the first, and the third out 

 of the second. When all these cells are developed, 

 each drops out a gemmule. But the gemmule pro- 

 duced by the second cell will not develop itself un- 

 less it comes into union with a gemmule originated 

 by the first cell and already started in its growth. 

 The gemmule from the third cell must have a corre- 

 sponding position in relation to the gemmule of the 

 second, or it will not grow. Thus our elective 

 affinities, the complexity of which has already as- 

 tounded us, need to be raised to a yet more incon- 

 ceivable height of complexity. We are bewildered 

 under the demands of this theory. But the gem- 

 mules are not bewildered. Elective affinity keeps 

 their poor heads steady. Each gemmule bethinks 

 itself of its duties, takes its proper place in the swirl 



