THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 21 



got into the constitution of the organism, we would be in a position 

 to answer one of the most urgent questions of the day in biology, 

 and it might enable us to trace a connection with their remotest 

 manifestations. 



So, as an assistance in my effort " to see clear and think 

 straight " on this subject, I have put my ideas in the following 

 order : 



Scientific investigation has extended our knowledge greatly on 

 the origin of the individual, if not on the species ; the authorities are 

 now very full and clear on this point in the higher orders, and which 

 is more or less applicable to all. They inform us that every new 

 being originates from an egg or cell — animal and vegetable ; egg, 

 cell and seed, being interchangeable terms. 



The order of nature, as a rule, is bisexual. That at the con- 

 junction of the sexes there are a dozen possibilities or more on each 

 side ; that by a union of any two of these possibilities the life of an 

 entirely new individual is originated, and generally the rest perish. 

 That that individual, in its physical form, and its mental constitu- 

 tion, is but the latest manifestation of countless preceding genera- 

 tions. That it is likely to be most influenced by its immediate 

 parent, but peculiarities of remote ancestors are liable to crop out 

 in the most unexpected manner ; that a change in the constitution 

 of the parent produces a change in the egg. The eggs of a pure 

 bred animal, when examined under a microscope, are found to be 

 all alike, in type, form and vitality ; in one cross-bred they are not 

 all alike, and in the egg-mass of such, some can be found corres- 

 ponding with those of a pure bred. That in-and-in-breeding of a 

 particular type for generations results in such a fixity of that type 

 that it becomes difficult to eradicate it ; that by careful selection, 

 elimination and rejection for generations, a type can be brought to 

 such a degree of oneness in all its parts, that the character of the 

 offsprmg can be predicted with absolute certainty. In cross-breeding 

 this is impossible, and the more violent the cross the greater the un- 

 certainty, and yet from such crosses some of the very finest types 

 of their kind have been secured ; by some fortunate combination 

 they have reached a higher standard of excellence in some particu- 

 lar point than any of their ancestors ever attained to 



These are now well attested facts brought to light by the study 



