40 



PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES ON 



We are, perhaps, too prone to look upon the individual, 

 whether animal or plant, as something totally apart from its 

 surroundings — as apart, as if the individual were at one end of 

 the earth and its surroundings at the antipodes ; or as if the 

 individual were on this earth, and its surroundings at the other end 

 of the universe ! 



The individual and its surroundings are so intimately connected 

 and related, that for practical purposes they may be considered as 

 one thing. This may be the reason why, when the individual 

 changes place, it either suffers or benefits. In the former case it 

 is out of tune with its^surrouudings, and has to retune itself, if it 

 can. In the latter, the continued repetition of the same sur- 

 roundings may produce what, for want of a better term, might be 

 called atomic " ennui," and then a change may revive its energy. 



Something analogous occurs in growing a plant repeatedly on 

 the same ground. It \y\\\ not thrive unless it gets a change, 

 whether this be a change of soil or a change of place, which may 

 mean the same thing. Food is, and always must be, one of the 

 surroundings, and all ultimate adaptations are for the purpose of 

 living. 



Now, what produces congenital variation ? We have mentioned 

 that the mixing of two heredities, by the conjugation of germ and 

 sperm cells, resulting in a mixed individual, is certainly a cause of 

 variation. Another factor must be admitted, and that is the 

 influence of the surroundings on the individual. The play of the 

 surroundings on the unformed parts of the offspring, still in its 

 elementary stage, and forming part of the parent, cannot be 

 excluded from having a share in causing modifications in the 

 individual. The offspring is then in a highly plastic, impression- 

 ablej and modifiable state of existence. We must allow some 

 influence, as one of the surroundings, to the nervous system of the 

 parent, where such exists, which nervous system is in turn 

 influenced by its own surroundings. 



This play is often so subtle, that for want of a better name one 

 might call it electrical. We should not lose sight of the fact that 

 every disturbance, of whatever kind, may develop synchronously 

 an electrical movement, and considering that physicists admit the 

 presence of an ether everywhere, even surrounding atoms, it will 

 be seen that there is ample means of communication between the 

 surroundings and the innermost atoms of any body. 



