I 



IQ 18.. , I 



It ... J:^' '^ ^1 



seems to 



)' our pre 



'"% 



b 



lOD I; 



sent !', 



I 



cna 



^j arbitrarily 



"on-sexual 



prots 



} 



^otwithstandiDg: 



\ 



, that the word 'it, 



■ide5t applicai 

 me-corresponliii 



e 



V 



refore, 

 •ithout muct''' 



I 



.5 of science -^ 



onnotation of^^^ 



TII£ BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



557 



and also much more elFectually, by some further limita- 

 tions in respect to the meaning of the word 'species ' 

 such as the present state of our knowledge now renders 

 absolutely necessary. 



Must we suppose that all the forms of Life which 

 are capable of reproducing their like or of 'breeding 



a 



true' through successive generations, whether 

 sexual or by an asexual process, are to be considered 



J "'"HunijH acAuai wi \j^ aix aocAucti j^iwv^css, ctic uu uc cuiisiuerea 



'"'^i^'idual all tt,' ■ to belong to distinct 'species'? Although this is the 



view to which our previous remarks seemed to tend 

 we must not hastily commit ourselves to any such 



and mode of 1: conception. 

 ''^"cnt indcpenfci 



We 



& 



iD 



> 



ecn 



unfflis 



I 



•sons, even 

 dll be ^^J 



thos 



n 



aW'- 



e 



nieani'^ 



V 



iway 



at 



less 



r 



and possessed of a marvellous plasticity, so that dif- 

 ferent parts of it may, in more or less rapid succession, 

 assume now one now another of a countless series of 

 organic forms. During each of these periods also we 

 find the several forms multiplying themselves by pro- 

 cesses of fission or gemmation, and all the products 

 of such multiplication capable of undergoing similar 

 sets of changes — the nature of which always vary ac- 

 cording to the precise, though unknown, molecular 

 qualities of the different kinds of living matter and 

 the conditions to which they are subjected. The pro- 

 ducts of a single stock may, moreover, display a con- 

 siderable amount of diversity, because the precise 



V 



molecular composition of the matter 



IS so 



readily 



altered, and because each of these alterations involves 



■nt). 



vol. V. P 



,j^ 



