46o POULTRY CULTURE 



most simple elementary form and structure. The germs of crea- 

 tures differing greatly in every character by which we distinguish 

 them are so nearly alike in size and appearance that, out of associ- 

 ation with or proximity to the parent form, their identification is 

 difficult and ordinarily impossible. Virtually, the germ retains its 

 primitive form and structure up to the point of separation from 

 the body, no matter what may be the development of the body. 

 But however little the germ, at separation, may show the char- 

 acter of the body from which it came, under proper conditions it 

 develops into a body of the same kind, — never by any possibility 

 into a body of another kind. Like still produces like, but in the 

 higher organism the likeness of the part called the germ to the 

 part called the body becomes apparent only with development. 



In the simpler organic forms, where self-division results in the 

 production of like parts, no question is raised as to the possession, 

 by each of these parts at the time of separation, of every character- 

 istic of the other. In the higher animal forms, and particularly in 

 domestic animals and birds, differences between a parent organism 

 and the germs it has produced, as observed at advanced or mature 

 stages of the development of these germs, cause questioning as to 

 how far the germ partakes of the character of the body at the time 

 of separation from it. That the tiny germ carries in it power to 

 develop an individual having the general characteristics of the 

 parent form and race is undeniable, — the evidence is everywhere. 

 How far the germ contains power to reproduce, in the individual 

 developing from it, modifications peculiar to the parent form, is 

 the disputed question. Reasoning from analogy with the simpler 

 animal forms, the presumption is that the germ carries in it power 

 to produce (under suitable conditions) an organism identical with 

 the parent body at the time of separation. 



However scientists, in their endeavor to demonstrate laws of he- 

 redity by exact comparisons of limited numbers in consecutive gener- 

 ations, may disagree as to the transmission of acquired characters, 

 the whole practice of live-stock breeders is based on the theory that 

 from the germ may be developed a creature in every way like the 

 parent form at the time of self-division, and results of breeding 

 in general demonstrate that the theory is correct. To the practi- 

 cal breeder the idea that acquired characters (more correctly, quality 



