45S 



LAWS OF MULTIPLICATION. 



time before it succeeds in ripening any seeds. But these 

 multi-axial plants, or aggregates of individuals some of 

 which continue to grow while others become arrested and 

 transformed into seed-bearers, show us the relation less de- 

 finitely than certain plants that are substantially, if not 

 literally, uni-axial. Of these the Cocoa-nut may be in- 

 stanced. For some years it goes on shooting up without 

 making any sign of becoming fertile. About the sixth year 

 it flowers; but the flowers wither without result. In the 

 seventh year it flowers and produces a few nuts; but these 

 prove abortive and drop. In the eighth year it ripens a 

 moderate number of nuts; and afterwards increases the 

 number until, in the tenth year, it comes into .full bearing. 

 Meanwhile, from the time of its first flowering its growth 

 begins to diminish, and goes on diminishing till the tenth 

 year, when it ceases. Here we see the antagonism between 

 growth and sexual genesis under both its aspects — see a 

 struggle between self-evolution and race-evolution, in which 

 the first for a time overcomes the last, and the last ultimately 

 overcomes the first. The continued aggrandizement of the 

 parent-individual makes abortive for two seasons the tendency 

 to produce new individuals; and the tendency to produce 

 new individuals, becoming more decided, stops any further 

 aggrandizement of the parent individual. 



Parallel illustrations occur in the animal kingdom. The 

 eggs laid by a pullet are relatively small and few. Similarly, 

 it is alleged that, as a general rule, "a bitch has fewer 

 puppies at first, than afterwards." According to Burdach, 

 as quoted by Dr. Duncan, "the elk, the bear, &c, have at 

 first only a single young one, then they come to have most 

 frequently two, and at last again only one. The young 

 hamster produces only from three to six young ones, while 

 that of a more advanced age produces from eight to sixteen. 

 The same is true of the pig." It is remarked by Buffon that 

 when a sow of less than a year old has young, the number of 

 the litter is small, and its members are feeble and even im- 



