48 The mnemie theory: 



a vast army without a general — only spells 

 confusion, when we try to picture it in 

 motion, a plight like that of the builders 

 of Babel after the confusion of tongues. 

 According to the mnemie theory, on the 

 other hand, the germ-cell is a definite unity, 

 the counterpart of the structural alterations 

 wrought by habit in the parental organisms 

 with which it has been in sympathetic rap- 

 port all along. It is potentially what Leibniz 

 would have called an automate spirituel ou 

 formel, the latent entelechy of a future 

 organism. We may compare it to a com- 

 pany of actors awaiting behind the scenes 

 the call to begin their play. Each one knows 

 his part by heart and also knows his cue. 

 The routine or orderly rhythm of the per- 

 formance is thus ensured and the play, 

 though continually condensed at one end 

 and extended at the other, has been so often 



