404 



Mr. F. Galton's Experiments in Pangenesis. [Mar. 30, 



has been one instance of a sandy Himalaya ; but the owner of this breed 

 assures me they are liable to throw them, and, as a matter of fact, as I 

 have already stated, one of the does he sent me, did litter and throw one 

 a few days after she reached me. The conclusion from this large series 

 of experiments is not to be avoided, that the doctrine of Pangenesis, pure 

 and simple, as I have interpreted it, is incorrect. 



Let us consider what were the alternatives before us. It seems a priori 

 that, if the reproductive elements do not depend on the body and blood 

 together, they must reside either in the solid structure of the gland, 

 whence they are set free by an ordinary process of growth, the blood 

 merely affording nutriment to that growth, or else that they reside in the 

 blood itself. My experiments show that they are not independent resi- 

 dents in the blood, in the way that Pangenesis asserts ; but they prove 

 nothing against the possibility of their being temporary inhabitants of it, 

 given off by existing cells, either in a fully developed state or else in one 

 so rudimentary that we could only ascertain their existence by inference. 

 In this latter case, the transfused gemmules would have perished, just like 

 the blood-corpuscles, long before the period had elapsed when the animals 

 had recovered from the operations. 



I trust that those who may verify my results will turn their attention 

 to the latter possibility, and will try to get the male rabbits to couple im- 

 mediately, and on successive days, after they have been operated on. This 

 might be accomplished if there were does at hand ready to take them ; 

 because it often happens that when the rabbits are released from the 

 operating-table, they are little, if at all, dashed in their spirits ; they play, 

 sniff about, are ready to fight, and, I have no doubt, to couple. Whether 

 after their wounds had begun to inflame, they would still take to the does, 

 I cannot say ; but they sometimes remain so brisk, that it is probable that 

 in those cases they would do so. If this experiment succeeded, it would 

 partly confirm the very doubtful case of the pied young of the doe which 

 died after an operation of cross-circulation (which, however, further im- 

 plies that though the ovum was detached, it was still possible for the 

 mother gemmules to influence it), and it would prove that the reproduc- 

 tive elements were drawn from the blood, but that they had only a tran- 

 sient existence in it, and were continually renewed by fresh arrivals 

 derived from the framework of the body. It would be exceedingly instruc- 

 tive, supposing the experiment to give affirmative results, to notice the 

 gradually waning powers of producing mongrel offspring. 



APPENDIX I. 



It is important that I should give details of the operations of cross- 

 circulation. I may mention that, having to deal with many rabbits, I 

 distinguished them permanently by tattooing bold Roman numerals in the 

 inside of their ears. 



