he germ-cells, and the free circulation of gemmules in
the offspring till they hit upon or are attracted by the particular cell
or cells, with which alone they can readily unite, seems a less feasible
theory and less in conformity with the whole of the facts than an
hypothesis of germ-continuity which supposes that the development of the
germ-plasm and of the successive self-dividing cells of the body
proceeds from within. Darwin's keen analogy of the fertilization of
plants by pollen renders development from without conceivable, but as
there are no insects to convey gemmules to their destination, each kind
of gemmule would have to be exceedingly numerous and easily attracted
from amongst an inconceivable number of other gemmules. Arguments
against pangenesis can also be drawn from the case of neuter insects--a
fact which seems to have escaped Darwin's notice, although he had seen
how strongly that case was opposed to the doctrine which is the
essential basis of the theory of pangenesis.

SPENCER'S EXPLANATION OF USE-INHERITANCE.

Mr. Spencer's explanation of the inheritance of the effects of use and
disuse (p. 36) is that "while generating a modified _consensus_ of
functions and of structures, the activities are at the same time
impressing this modified _consensus_ on the sperm-cells and germ-cells
whence future individuals are to be produced"--a proposition which reads
more like metaphysics than science. Difficult to understand or believe
in ordinary instances, such _consensus_-inheritance seems impossible in
cases like that of the hive-bee. Can we suppose that the _consensus_ of
the activities of the working bee impresses itself on the sperm-cells
of the drones and on the germ-cells of the carefully secluded queen?
Buechner thinks so, for he says: "Although the queens and drones do not
now work, yet the capacities inherited from earlier times still remain
to them, especially to the former, and are kept alive and fresh by the
impressions constantly made upon them during life, and they are thus in
a position to transmit them to posterity." Surely it is better to
abandon a cherished theory than to be compelled to defend it by
explanations which are as inconsistent as they are inadequate. New
capacities are developed as well as old ones kept fresh. The massacre or
expulsion of the drones would have to impress itself on the germ-cells
of an onlooking queen, and the imprisonment of the queen on the
sperm-cells of the dr