158 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
another ; and as certain peculiarities of distant ancestors some- 
times suddenly appear in their descendants, the ancestral 
gemmules must be sufficient in number to last for many 
generations, or they must act as parent cells and produce other 
cells. 
Mr. Sorby applied himself to this problem, and sought to find 
what quantity of molecules existed in the quantities of matter 
that acts as germs and sperms. Supposing each gemmule con- 
tained a million molecules of the albuminous compound that is 
the physical basis of life, Mr. Sorby finds that 44 one thousand 
such gemmules massed together would form a sphere just dis- 
tinctly visible with our highest and best magnifying powers.” 
44 If,” he adds, 44 the gemmules were of much greater or much less 
magnitude, it appears to me very probable that Darwin’s theory 
would break down from two opposite causes, or would need very 
considerable modification, because, if much greater, their number 
would be too few to transmit sufficiently varied characters, and 
if much less, they would scarcely contain enough of the ultimate 
atoms of matter to have a sufficiently varied individual character 
to transmit, since, of the assumed million ultimate molecules, 
only eighteen thousand would be of a true protoplasmic nature, the 
rest being water in molecular combination.” Taking the 6 -^ 
of an inch as the mean diameter of a single mammalian sper- 
matozoon, Mr. Sorby calculates it might contain 2 \ millions of 
such gemmules, and, 44 if one of them were lost, destroyed, 
or fully developed at the rate of one in each second, this 
number would be exhausted in about one month ; but since a 
number of spermatozoa appears to be necessary to produce 
perfect fertilization, it is quite easy to understand that the 
number of gemmules introduced into the ovum may he so great 
that the influence of the male parent may be very marked, 
even after having been, as regards particular characters, 
apparently dormant for many years.” 
Again, taking the germinal vesicle of the mammalian ovum as 
of an inch in diameter, 44 it might contain 500 millions of 
gemmules,” and 44 if these were lost or fully developed at the 
rate of one in each second, this number would not be exhausted 
until after a period of seventeen years.” If the whole ovum ? 
about jgj in diameter, were all gemmules, the number would be 
sufficient to last, at this rate of one per second, for 5,600 years ! 
This is, however, not probable ; but Mr. Sorby’s remarks have 
completely removed all doubts as to its physical possibility from 
the Darwinian theory, and they prompt us to a wonderful con- 
ception of the powers residing in minute quantities of matter. 
The student of nature stands surrounded on all sides by 
infinities. He can imagine no bounds to space or time ; see no 
