154 HEREDITY. 



point on, take it for granted that the Lucretian hy- 

 pothesis of materialism is dead. 



Next we come to Darwin's theory of the elective 

 affinities, or pangenesis. We have here a circle, 

 let us suppose, and at its centre there is an atom 

 of matter. According to Darwin's hypothesis, all 

 the movements of matter in living organisms are 

 to be accounted for by the elective affinities of minute 

 particles called gemmules. Darwin does not in terms 

 deny that the first germs were originated by the 

 Divine Power, and it is not necessary for him to do 

 that. Such affinities were put into that original 

 germ, that every thing we call life has been devel- 

 oped out of the germ. We, therefore, must deter- 

 mine the qualities of that original living matter by 

 Darwin's definition of elective affinities. Now, how 

 many affinities must there be to account for the 

 movements of a particle of matter to any and every 

 point of a circle drawn around it ? Why, just as many 

 affinities as there are points in the circle ! You have 

 three hundred and sixty degrees in your circle, and 

 there may be at least three hundred and sixty points 

 measurable by the microscope in each degree. If the 

 affinities of this gemmule account for all its move- 

 ments, they must account for its movements in any 

 direction, toward any part of that circle. In con- 

 Btructing the complex whole we call man, the gem- 

 mules must move to every part of a circle, up, down, 

 forward, backward. Indeed, we must not only have 

 affinities that will enable the atom to move in every 

 direction inside a circle, but in every direction inside 



