c* 



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y 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



107 



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'^ fiats 



fiisio 



ii 



t 



n, or the. 



'Ps amon?std(^ 



■b' 



■rom an ir 



wcit 



possible does it seem that this theory can be true. All 

 developmentalists would start in bygone ages with living 

 matter existing in its simplest form or forms j and this 

 must be supposed to be far more mobile and changeable 

 than crystalline matter. How this latter may vary 

 under the influence of changing conditions we have 

 himself. \.. already shown: we may fairly expect, therefore, that 



the newly-evolved, primordial, living matter would be 

 even more prone than this has been shown to be, to 



4 ■ 



assume new developmental forms under the influence of 

 changing external conditions. We see our way, there- 

 fore, quite plainly to an advance in the developmental 

 scale, and, owing to the tendency of organisms to re- 

 produce their like (under the influence of Heredity), we 

 may understand how a continual widening of the 



must 1; 



i;, Man 

 organic form, 



J 



nost widely ail 

 and ages 

 )rcdecessors UK 



1. of the Mcii 



Infusorial 1 



r 



pcctive habitat successive platforms may take place, upon some parts 



crc suggestioii 



of which further developmental differentiations may be 

 this were k«- initiated. In their turn, the various different and often 

 such for"'^' more complex forms thus produced, are multiplied by 



id stability, 



further reproductive processes, and so on through in- 



lisms are 



ty 



On tHss 



)inion 



• and* 



^r^ numerable series and ramifications, — organisms being 



gradually evolved whose complexity makes it more and 

 more difficult to bring about permanent alterations. 



are 



no\^ 



M 



n 



istic 



to 



the* 



. preb 



^ent 



n 



si ml 



ilar 





a 



fact, 



biiity- 



the 



d' 



even when aided by the powerfully modifying agencies 

 included under the head of ^ Natural Selection/ Longer 

 and longer periods become .necessary to induce even 



n ■ 



slight specific alterations. Change, therefore, is rapid 

 amongst the lower terms of the series, and more and 

 more slow as we ascend in the scale of complexity and 



