The Perpetuation of Living Beings, Hereditary Transmission and Variation

This work opens with a clear‑cut inquiry into what science of its day actually understood about how living things keep going and change. The author separates the mystery of life’s origin from the more accessible study of reproduction, arguing that while the former remains elusive, the latter is supported by a wealth of observation and experiment. The lecture‑style narrative guides listeners through the foundations of hereditary theory, laying out the key questions that still drive biology today.

The discussion then turns to the two main modes of perpetuation: asexual and sexual. Using familiar examples—gardeners propagating geraniums by cuttings, bulb‑bearing plants sending out new shoots, and simple animals like polyps that split and regrow—the author shows how exact copies of the original form arise without the need for mates. Early experimental work, such as Trembley’s famous polyp cuts, illustrates the remarkable resilience of these organisms and sets the stage for deeper exploration of variation in more complex life.