TET 
1894.] Neo-Lamarckism and Neo-Darwinism. 665 
parental bodies which it reproduces. It would seem as if it 
must of itself be an epitome or condensation of its parents, 
with the power of unfolding its impressions or attributes dur- 
ing the whole life course of the organism to which it gives 
rise. Several hypotheses have been announced to account for 
the phenomena of heredity, of which, one of the most im- 
portant is still Darwin’s theory of pangenesis. Darwin sup- 
posed, provisionally, that besides the ordinary multiplication 
of the cell, each cell may “throw off minute granules which 
are dispersed throughout the whole system; that these, when 
supplied with proper nutriment, multiply by self-division, and 
are ultimately developed into units like those from which they 
were originally derived." These granules, or gemmules, have 
a natural affinity for each other, and they collect themselves 
* from all parts of the system” to form the sexual materials or 
elements. 'These sexual elements, therefore, which unite to 
form the new individual, are an epitomized compound of the 
parents. The value of this hypothesis, it seems to me, lies not 
so much in the particular constitution and behavior of these 
gemmules, as in the fact that it attempts to account for the 
known phenomena of life by supposing each corporeal element 
to be represented in the sexual elements. The hypothesis has 
never gained wide support, because of the supposed physical 
improbability of the gemmules and of their concentration in 
sexual system ; yet it should be said that a simpler one, which 
can account for the facts, has not yet been advanced, unless it 
be the bathmic hypothesis of Cope, which supposes that each 
body-cell transmits “a mode of motion” to the germ-cell. 
For the present purpose, we need consider but one other 
hypothesis of heredity—that advanced in 1883 by Weismann, 
which has given rise to the philosophy now called Neo-Dar- 
winism. Weismann’s point of view is interesting and unique. 
He places himself at the threshold of organic life and contem- 
plates what takes place in the reproduction of one-celled organ- 
isms. These organisms multiply largely by simple division, 
or fission. When the organism reaches a certain size, it be- 
comes constricted near its middle, and finally parts into two — — 
cells or organisms. It is evident that one organism is twin —— 
