Le Dantec 271 



quite otherwise than as though this element had assimi- 

 lated without being isolated, as though for example it 

 had belonged to a man in process of growth. It would 

 then have been the destiny of this element, thanks to 

 the combined "dynamisms" of the neighboring elements, 

 to build up a part of the man, but not a whole man." 205 



Finally the transformations to which the living sub- 

 stance would be forced by the constraint of external 

 influences may be hereditary, i. e. can take place anew 

 in the descendant organism without any further need of 

 the action of the same constraint, because they would 

 alter the living substance itself in a corresponding way, 

 so that it adapts itself to the new conditions of 

 equilibrium : 



"If assimilation were the only possible phenomenon 

 of living matter there would not take place any alteration 

 of the living substance through external influences; but 

 upon the truly vital phenomena of assimilation are super- 

 imposed as we have seen phenomena of destruction, and 

 the co-operation of these two phenomena can result in 

 changes in the nature of the substance, in the definite 

 proportions of the mixture forming it; thus education 

 can modify heredity." 



"Since the form is the result of the molar move- 

 ments of the metabolism of all cells of the body, a 

 variation imposed on the form reacts upon these molar 

 movements by which again the molecular movements in 

 the interior of the cell are determined. Then in con- 

 sequence of this form imposed on the body mass, there 

 will occur within the cells phenomena of destruction, 

 i. e., of variation. The variations may take any direction 



206 Le Dantec : Ibid. P. 257258. 



