Le Dantec 271 
quite otherwise than as though this element had assimi- 
lated without being isolated, as though for example it 
had belonged to a man in process of growth. It would 
then have been the destiny of this element, thanks to 
the combined “dynamisms” of the neighboring elements, 
to build up a part of the man, but not a whole man.” 2° 
Finally the transformations to which the living sub- 
stance would be forced by the constraint of external 
influences may be hereditary, i. e. can take place anew 
in the descendant organism without any further need of 
the action of the same constraint, because they would 
alter the living substance itself in a corresponding way, 
so that it adapts itself to the new conditions of 
equilibrium : 
“If assimilation were the only possible phenomenon 
of living matter there would not take place any alteration 
of the living substance through external influences; but 
upon the truly vital phenomena of assimilation are super- 
imposed as we have seen phenomena of destruction, and 
the co-operation of these two phenomena can result in 
changes in the nature of the substance, in the definite 
proportions of the mixture forming it; thus education 
can modify heredity.” 
“Since the form is the result of the molar move- 
ments of the metabolism of all cells of the body, a 
variation imposed on the form reacts upon these molar 
movements by which again the molecular movements in 
the interior of the cell are determined. Then in con- 
sequence of this form imposed on the body mass, there 
will occur within the cells phenomena of destruction, 
i. e., of variation. The variations may take any direction 
2066 Te Dantec: Ibid. P. 257—258. 
