72 Hypothetical Bearers of Hereditary Characters 



mother, if only certain pangens of the father prevail, 

 then this resemblance will be limited to single character- 

 istics. If certain pangens are fewer in number than 

 others, then the character represented by them is only 

 slightly developed; if they are very few, the character 

 becomes latent. If external conditions cause later a rela- 

 tively great increase of such pangens, the previously 

 latent character reappears, and we observe a case of 

 atavism. If certain pangens entirely cease multiplying, 

 the respective character is definitely lost, but this seems 

 to occur very rarely. 



In the protoplasm, or at least in the nuclei, of the 

 egg- and sperm-cells, as well as in that of all buds, all 

 the pangens of the respective species are represented; 

 every kind of pangen in a definite number. Predominat- 

 ing characters correspond to numerous pangens, slightly 

 developed attributes to less numerous ones. 



The differentiation of the organs must be due to the 

 fact that individual pangens or groups of them develop 

 more vigorously than others. The more a certain group 

 predominates, the more pronounced becomes the char- 

 acter of the respective cell. Connected with this is the 

 fact that external influences may frequently alter the 

 character of an organ in its earliest youth, but that this 

 becomes more difficult the more advanced it is in its 

 development, i. e., the more strongly definite pangens 

 are already predominating. 



The regeneration of detached members, the restora- 

 tion of smaller lost parts of tissues, and the closing up 

 of wounds are evidently due to the fact that the pangens 

 of the lost parts are not limited to these parts, but that 

 all cells capable of reproduction contain all the pangens 

 necessary thereto. 



