VIII A THEORY OF HEREDITY 283 



worked out to its consequences on an extensive scale by 

 Mr. Herbert Spencer. Professor Hering has the merit 

 of introducing some striking phraseology into his 

 treatment of the subject, which serves to emphasise 

 the leading idea. He points out that since all trans- 

 mission of " qualities " from cell to cell in the growth 

 and repair of one and the same organ, or from parent 

 to offspring, is a transmission of vibrations or affections 

 of material particles, whether these qualities manifest 

 themselves as form, or as a facility for entering upon 

 a given series of vibrations, we may speak of all such 

 phenomena as "memory," whether it be the conscious 

 memory exhibited by the nerve-cells of the brain or 

 the unconscious memory we call habit, or the inherited 

 memory we call instinct ; or whether again it be the 

 reproduction of parental form and minute structure. 

 All equally may be called "the memory of living 

 matter." From the earliest existence of protoplasm 

 to the present day, the memory of living matter is 

 continuous. Though individuals die, the universal 

 memory of living matter is still carried on. 



Professor Hering, in short, helps us to a comprehen- 

 sive conception of the nature of heredity and adaptation 

 by giving us the term " memory," conscious or uncon- 

 scious, for the continuity of Mr. Herbert Spencer's 

 polar forces or polarities of physiological units. 



Elsberg appears (though this is only an inference 

 on my part) to be acquainted with Mr. Herbert 

 Spencer's hypothesis of physiological units. Adopt- 

 ing Haeckel's useful term " plastid " for a corpuscle of 

 protoplasm (cell or cytod), he designates the physio- 



