78 
by some spontaneous action of the organism, 
or the result of the influence of changing 
environment upon the organism. For, in 
speaking of variation, it is customary to 
say that the variation becomes fixed by 
selection, or becomes transmitted, as if the 
disturbance in the order of the phenomena, 
which at first entered as an accident, be- 
came, by some means, an added part of the 
normal cycle of development of succeeding 
generations. 
We hear such expressions as that it is 
impossible: that a variation can be trans- 
mitted till it affects the germ-plasm, or till 
the variation becomes a variation of the re- 
producing, as distinct from the somatic, 
part of the individual. This conveys the 
impression that that which varies is the 
reproductive cycle of phenomena, whereas 
the truth is more accurately expressed by 
saying that the reproduction cycle is aug- 
mented. The augmentation in the case 
consisting of an extension of the process of 
growth of the individual beyond the point 
reached by the ancestor, the process is, 
first, purely of the nature of the building 
up of tissue and structure, and is not repro- 
duction, but simple production, the process 
of production going beyond the extent or 
limit reached by the ancestors. 
The confusion arises from not distin- 
guishing the phenomena by which the 
structure of the individual is perfected 
from other phenomena by which a new in- 
dividual becomes separated from the old 
and begins, carries on and repeats the 
previous cycle of phenomena. That phe- 
nomenon which is the first step of every evo- 
lutional process, as well as every step by 
which evolutional. progress is accomplished, 
is fundamentally a growth phenomenon, 
quite of the same nature as the growth tak- 
ing place throughout the life of each indi- 
vidual. It differs from these normal 
growth phenomena only by exceeding in 
some particular, or deviating in some man- 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Vox. VI. No. 133. 
ner, from the cycle of growth phenomena of 
the ancestors. Evolution does not call for 
any augmentation of the phenomena of re- 
production. 
If we separate the processes of (1) the 
growth or development of one individual 
from (2) the reproduction of a separate 
second individual we discover that the de- 
velopment of the first individual must 
necessarily have been carried to a certain 
point of completion before the reproduction 
of a germ takes place, since it is the more 
or less mature individual which reproduces 
the germ. When, further, we compare 
with these two processes the further phe- 
nomenon of variation which results in evo- 
lution we find that the variation does not 
belong to the reproduction, but to the devel- 
opment of the individual. Variation is a 
transcending the course of development of 
its ancestor by the offspring ; reproduction 
of the variation is not variation, but a 
repetition of a previous course of develop- 
ment. It is simply a continuation of those 
processes which have been going on in the 
individual and are regarded by the observer 
as perfectly normal up to the point of re- 
producing the features of the ancestor, but 
are looked upon as abnormal so soon as 
they transcend their limits. 
Inquiry into what we mean by normal 
and abnormal will reveal the commonly 
received doctrine in the case. By normal 
we mean according to the steps of growth 
of the ancestor ; that is to say, the assump- 
tion is made that it is natural or normal 
for reproduction to proceed in some path 
already traversed. Now, in fact, this is 
not strictly true; first, we know that spe- 
cies are constantly showing departure or 
‘abnormal’ growth (using abnormal in the 
above sense), and the deviation is called 
variation; and secondly, we have reason to 
believe that organisms never proceed in 
exact imitation of anything else, that every 
part of every organism is in some infini- 
