238 • METAMORPHOSES OF MAN 



ences between T)r. Carpenter's and my own opinion 

 as to the starting-point of the theory, and as to the 

 mechanism by which the phenomenon is accomplished ; 

 but, with these exceptions, his general ideas agree in 

 many particulars with my own. The following are 

 some of the considerations which led me to this mode 

 of view. 



All forms of reproduction which we have as yet 

 touched on, except reproduction by ova, are in reality 

 so many processes of gemmation. This is quite 

 evident in the Hydra, the Aurelia, and in all those 

 animals in which the process takes place externally. 

 Microscopic observation demonstrates that it is the 

 same with the Biphorae, the Helminthes, and the 

 Aphides. But in the last-named insects, the bud, 

 which is developed internally, is detached at a very 

 early period, and falls into the cavity of the body, 

 where it undergoes transformations, which bring it 

 toward its perfect form. Here, the germ, instead of 

 being simply a bud properly so called, is a bulb, that 

 is to say, a deciduous bud, destined to be developed 

 within the very animal from which it was produced.* 



The very phenomenon of budding in its commence- 

 ment is simply one of local growth. When a bud, 

 whether internal, external, fixed, or deciduous, is 

 formed at any part, it results from the accumulation, 

 by the vital stream, of the plastic materials at one 

 point, instead of their distribution over the entire 

 body. 



* Bulbs, properly so called, are like ordinary buds, but they 

 become spontaneously detached from the plant which produces 

 them, throw out roots, and give rise to a new plant, as though a 

 seed had been sown. 



