532 
Seed-Breeding. 
[August, 
philosophy, so that in general terms he recognises that as he 
sows he must reap, and that thorns do not bear figs, nor 
thistles grapes. In this aspedt of the case it would seem to 
be unreasonable to talk about heredity in plants, because the 
statement of the fadt in general is uncalled for, being uni- 
versally known and universally recognised as known. Yet 
we purpose to give a few thoughts on the subjedt, despite 
the apparent clearness of the claim that seeds have a here- 
dity inherent in their nature and structure, because we 
recognise that the application of the well-known fadt of 
heredity in these cases has not received a proper attention 
from the public, and that while the fadt may be well appre- 
hended, yet too few are willing to carry reasoning based on 
the corredt premise to a logical and practical conclusion. 
We certainly have no reason to believe that there is one 
law for vegetable and another for animal life; rather, we 
have firm grounds for asserting that all life is subjedt to the 
same laws of Nature, and that apparent differences are to 
be ascribed but to the individual under observation, being 
subjedt to forces under a greater or less antagonism, or from 
the simplicity or complexity of its strudture and functions 
which render it amenable to one law rather than to another. 
Thus, to illustrate our proposition, we can say that a plant 
and an animal are subjedt to the adtion of the great natural 
forces which affedt life and its development, such as gravity, 
heat, light, &c. ; yet the application of a stimulus which 
will produce no apparent movement in the one may excite 
muscular adtion in the other ; or, to make a more mechanical 
suggestion, a falling stream of water may serve to move a 
saw which shall convert a log into boards, or shall adt on a 
more complicated series of machinery to turn a lathe which 
shall convert the same log into spools, or the irregular gun- 
stock. In either case the same moving force has adted, but 
the work accomplished has been modified into different 
results through the adtion of another force, the mind of man, 
which has intervened to produce oppositions, and through 
the readtion of these varied oppositions has contributed to 
the concrete effedt of the force derived from gravity upon 
the shaping of the log. Thus, in Nature, we have the life , 
distinguished from mineral matter by the possession of 
motion, and the power of adding to itself, through the force 
which this motion implies, from the surrounding world, of 
matter suited to its own structure and function, and im- 
parting to it of its motion. Once stop this motion, destroy 
this mysterious force, and the life becomes subjedt to other 
conditions, and dissolves its strudture, the fundtion being 
