LIFE. y 



account for certain phenomena otherwise in- 

 explicable. 



Pursuing a similar line of inquiry, the 

 phenomena of life presented during the 

 growth of an organism from its germ-cell 

 to maturity indicate that an organism is 

 the product of three principal factors: 

 The matter or food that goes to build up 



the organism ; 

 The external conditions necessary for its 



growth ; and 



A combination of forces that actuates the 

 general mechanism of the organism, 

 selects and assimilates suitable food, 

 and builds up a specific type. 

 Further, we may infer that the co-oper- 

 ating forces are of two kinds : a General 

 force, common to all life ; and a Specific 

 force, peculiar to each race, that selects and 

 assimilates suitable food, and builds up a 

 specific type of that race. 



It may be that the food assimilated rein- 

 forces the general life-force, but we cannot 



O ' 



see how food or conditions of existence can 

 provide the Specific life-force that forms the 

 specific type. 



We therefore infer that the Specific life- 

 force of the organism comes from its germ-cell, 

 and, as the germ-cell is the joint product of 



