Heredity : in the light of recent research / by L. Doncaster.

  • Doncaster, L. (Leonard), 1877-1920.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Heredity : in the light of recent research / by L. Doncaster. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/160 (page 3)
    I] HEREDITY 3 and method of evolution arise therefore partly from our ignorance of the laws of variation and heredity, and partly from different ideas as to the causes which lead to progression in certain directions rather than in others. This latter source of disagreement is to a large extent outside the province of this book, but the subjects of Heredity and Variation are so inti¬ mately bound together that one cannot be adequately treated without the other. If, however, we can come to any definite decision with regard to the nature of Heredity and Variation, we shall have made a long step towards understanding the method by which evolution has taken and is taking place. One other point must be mentioned. The study of heredity brings us face to face with perhaps the most fundamental problem of biology—the ultimate nature of living matter. For if an ovum, barely visible to the eye, or the much smaller spermatozoon which is visible only with high magnification, can bear potentially all the parental characters which may be inherited by the ofispring, it is clear that any hypothesis of the nature of living matter must take these things into account ; and though we cannot unravel or even imagine it, we can at least get some idea of the amazing complexity of the substances which in thoughtless moments Ave group together under the single name of 'protoplasm.' 1—2