LUTHER BURBANK 



the protoplasm that is the foundation substance 

 of life. 



This gives us a more profound and compre- 

 hensive appreciation of the word "affinity" as 

 applied to various species of plants than we could 

 otherwise have. 



It also makes it in a measure comprehensible 

 that the traits of remote ancestors should be 

 carried latent in the tissues of the germ-plasm, 

 as we have seen that they are carried, for untold 

 generations. 



The Continuity of the Germ-Plasm 



This germ-plasm, which is the connecting link 

 between one generation and another, is passed on, 

 according to the prevalent idea, from parent to 

 offspring, generation after generation, subject 

 only to such modifications as may from time to 

 time be imposed through environing influences. 



The physical mechanism that underlies this 

 transfer we shall have occasion to examine in 

 another connection when we discuss at some 

 length the theories of heredity. For the moment 

 it is enough to reflect that as the offspring in each 

 successive generation spring from the substance 

 of the parent, the germ-plasm may be thought 

 of as a continuous stream uniting the remotest 

 ancestor of any given strain with the most recent 

 descendant. 



[52] 



