Prophetic Germs

Abstract

I HAVE but just returned from abroad, and have hastened to read the number of NATURE for August 30. I find that the Duke of Argyll in his letter of that date makes some remarks which call for a few words from me. The Duke is not, it appears, prepared to defend the theory that the electric organ of Raia radiata is a “prophetic germ.” He refers me to the paper of Prof. Ewart on this subject, whose opinion he quotes and accepts. I am not sure how far Prof. Ewart himself had considered the significance of the view which he put forward in regard to the nature of the rudimentary electric organs of skates; but I do not hesitate to say that there are no facts which have been made known at present, either by earlier observers or by Prof. Ewart, with regard to the electric organ of skates, which necessitate such a theory of prophetic germs as that imagined by the Duke of Argyll, or which can be shown to be inconsistent with the doctrine of progressive development by the natural selection of fortuitous congenital variations. If the Duke of Argyll will point out such facts, he will have made a contribution of some value towards the understanding of the laws of organic evolution.