INHERITANCE ill 



stable fabrics of an inconceivably large number of 

 cells, each of which has in some sense a separate 

 life of its own, and which have combined under 

 influences that are the subjects of much speculation, 

 but are as yet little understood, We seem to in- 

 herit, bit by bit, this element from one progenitor, 

 that from another, under conditions that will be 

 more clearly expressed as we proceed, while the 

 several bits are themselves liable to some little 

 change during the process of transmission. 

 Inheritance may therefore be described as largely, 

 if not wholly, particulate." Farther on, he compares 

 the process of inheritance to the construction of a 

 modern building out of the corresponding parts of 

 the ruined edifices of former days. " This simile," 

 he says, " gives a rude though true idea of the 

 exact meaning of Particulate Inheritance, namely, 

 that each piece of the new structure is derived from 

 a corresponding piece of some older one, as a lintel 

 was derived from a lintel, a column from a column, 

 a piece of wall from a piece of wall. We appear 

 then to be severally built up out of a host of 

 minute particles of whose nature we know nothing, 

 any one of which may be derived from any one 

 progenitor, but which are usually transmitted in 

 aggregates, considerable groups being derived from 

 the same progenitor. It would seem that while the 

 embryo is developing itself, the particles more 

 or less qualified for each new post wait as it were 

 in competition to obtain it. Also, that the 

 particle that succeeds must owe its success 

 partly to accident of position, and partly to 



