Successively Activated Specific Elements 155 
the face can be maternal and the eyes, in spite of that, be 
entirely paternal in character; the dimple which the father 
had on his chin may be found again in the child, although 
in the form of its face and nose it may resemble the 
mother rather than the father.’’ 12° 
Let us note at the same time that the germ substance 
of the fertilized egg must contain the anlagen of both the 
paternal and maternal germ substance, and that the 
former as well as the latter, since they correspond one to 
another in pairs, tend to become active in pairs simulta- 
neously or almost simultaneously, except in the cases 
where they are of such nature as to be reciprocally 
exclusive. 
Now if we suppose that the process may be of epi- 
genetic nature, and if we suppose also that the different 
anlagen of the germ substance becoming successively ac- 
tive, are all located in one definite zone of the organism 
from which they send forth their formative action, then 
it is clear that the different points of the soma must 
experience the determinative influence of the paternal and 
maternal germinal anlagen at the same time. 
Consequently when the corresponding anlagen com- 
posing each couple are quite identical, as will be the case 
especially during the first stages of development and per- 
haps also at subsequent stages more or less advanced, 
then the two respective, determinative actions will be- 
come fused into one, and there would result the exact 
reproduction of the entirely similar characters which the 
two parents possess in common. 
When on the contrary the corresponding anlagen com- 
posing each pair are different, provided that they are not, 
125Weismann: Das Keimplasma. P. 377. 
