THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



593 



*^ ^vhich 



^'■tions 



arec; 



I'fcrm 



of the 



\ 



\ 



entabl 



c 



) 



'"^'''^ under ti.': 



^^'■jOrevenij,' 

 ons in the 



infusio 



OfgaDK 



nSj or 



now best exrii 



Itt: 



ice with initial, tif' 

 lar differences «': 

 )ns lead the ref 



[ 



'nt modes of grott 

 usoria and lowerC; 



\ 



\ 



! 



conclusive 



It*^ 



and StrUCtUf «'!"■. I 



fvfpP 



6o-^j 



s 



,* 



tion ^'!^\ 



Dote 



I.) 



intrinsic properties of the more or less similar matter 



P 



from which they have been derived, have also more to do 

 with their forms and structures than any differences in 

 the conditions under which they have been born. And 

 yet we find that many of such lower organisms are quite 

 unable to adjust themselves to slight changes in their 

 ^ conditions of life/ When these overtake them, they 

 either die or become converted into new forms — lower or 



r 



higher as the case may be^. And whether any particular 

 change of conditions can or can not produce direct 



seems to depend princi- 



efFects 



upon an organism, 



constituents bt.. pally upon the _ nature of the organism itself. 



This 

 is undoubtedly the case with crystals^ and since it 



iifferent startiiiM appears also to hold good for organisms it ought to 



impress us with a conviction of the immense importance 

 of the aggregate polarities of the organism and of the 

 exact nature of the complex moving equilibrium which 

 exists in each case, in reference to the possible influence 

 of any particular change in external conditions. 

 Although, therefore, Mr. Darwin does not believe 



Bcssing almost ■^:' 



)St diff^^^^' ^^^^^ ^ Thus it would appear that an essential similarity exists amongst 



the forms encountered in different regions i^Pritchard's ' Infusoria,' p. 375), 

 because the elementary forms of vegetal matter (from which so many of 

 the Infusoria and Cryptogams are derived) have an essentially similar 

 nature in these various regions (see p. 613). The several forms unfold, 

 therefore, more or less immediately into such and such organisms, 

 according to the molecular composition of the matrices from which 

 they start. But if new influences impinge upon such impressionable 

 organisms, they, for the most part, either die, or else the matter of which 



'1— wbi*'^ hJ*^! ■'^^ ^^^ composed undergoes some marked heterogenetic transforma. 



tion, by which higher or lower organisms may be produced. 



VOL. II. 



Qq 



