76 De Vi Physica 



his mind, that he has still to reckon with 

 the origin of the individual animal, going 

 on around us every day. Is that mechani- 

 cal ? The spider or the elephant alike arise 

 from an imperceptible speck of matter, or 

 more exactly, from the momentary contact 

 of two imperceptible specks, which leaves 

 one endowed with a Power that it did not 

 possess before. Now what is this Power ? 

 It is beyond denial, that the perfect form, 

 the spider or elephant, is determined before- 

 hand in the originating speck. Let that 

 process be, as such, as mechanical as you 

 please, the question still arises : does me- 

 chanics exhaust the explanation ? Is there, 

 or is there not, a power working to an end ? 

 It has been admirably observed (by Car- 

 penter) that what, in ordinary generation, the 

 father and mother produce, is not a new form, 

 structure, or animal, but only the potentiality 

 of such a new form : which, in suitable cir- 



