LECTURE VIII 



LATENT CHARACTERS 



No organism exhibits all of its qualities at 

 any one time, many of which are generally dor- 

 mant and awaiting a period of activity. For 

 some of them this period comes regularly, while 

 in others the awakening depends upon external 

 influences, and consequently occurs very irreg- 

 ularly. Those of the first group correspond to 

 the differences in age ; the second constitute the 

 responses of the plant to stimuli including 

 wound-injuries. 



Some illustrative examples may be quoted in 

 order to give a precise idea of this general con- 

 ception of dormant or latent characters. Seed- 

 leaves are only developed in the seed and the 

 seedling; afterwards, during the entire life- 

 time of the plant, the faculty of producing them 

 is not made use of. Every new generation of 

 seeds, however, bears the same kind of seed 

 leaves, and hence it is manifest that it is 

 the same quality, which shows itself from time 

 to time. 



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