Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-08-23

MIRACLE OF LIFE.
For II Is u miracle he most stipend
Gus III r Gle that can Il, gage tho mind
ui mi ---thio ten dency TO push on unu
W, iii what was a mere nucleus OF
lie becomes man.
A curiuu- TACT is that this life fro m
the time OF lis conception and during
the period OF CESSATION fecspitulstes
tue biological hisdfy OF lie on this
planet but with Intense rapi lity--what
corresponds to the evolution tn u
SAND years, being passeJ in Jay, All
nOur, pernapB even siugle second
Could the trainel scientist watch til
process, he would bo able to tell Al
each stage what form OF iiie was be-
ing uplolded, tilI At last he would ex-
claim mammal- biped- man eau
causian-mst!
PHYSICAL BASIS OF HEREDITY.
II 10 In the transmission OF the single
cell of conception that We have d
physical basis for herediiy. The old
belief was that all traits OF the iather
ana M Jther were transmitted to the
ulfsurinp; but modern Investigation
Goes not FULLY Justify TIE conrlusi II.
heredity has ilr Limitations. For IN.
stance Chinese chill rem cuntii ue 10 be
born with normal feet, Ia spite OF the
national custom during Thousands Of
years OF CTamping and defOTming
| them. Lambs are born with long
tails from generations Of ancestors
Whose tails have been cropped.
| There lie, however, a mod cum OF
truth In the oil claim. The traits
transmitted are now known to be those
| which have psfsel out OF @ nsciouaness
into the realm VI pure habit or instinct.
In psychological lerm', We transmit
| what mas been committed to the spinal
| cord or autu matte centres OF activity.
To illustrates:
Amin whose spinal cord had been
absolute.y severed from the brain was
observed u stroke his moustache, an
action not possiole under such ciicum.
stances, unle.s we consider IL purely
automatic or distinctive. II automatic
1t must have passed out of conscious
nsss elnoe he came to have q beard; il
instinctiye II was the Swbkenino Of
some ancestral trait. At my rate tut
illustration sufiices: he wouiu be aoi,
to transmiE this characteristic To hi
offspring.
THE TRANSMISSION OF LIFE.
This ability to transmit the likeness
OF parent began with thl
lowest forms OF lite, the iniuso.is, o
which tue coral builders are examples
They illustrate what might be called 4
kinu of immortality; each cell divide
and sub ,ividss by assure, increasing
in geometrioal ratio, AMI the life prin
oipis growing wider aud hisher ant
leaving the dead forms behind. tn,
liviug f0rms at the .. sc OF any cora
growth may thus be said to lie as ole
as the lie history OF the planet.
This prI ciple OF Transmission doe,
not d fer essentially even In tho high
or forms o. ilfe, the only disli ctioI
being that instead OF the whole organ
NJ be ng reproductive, this character
stic IL co fue to a angle pArt, "a u othe
paris having lost the power. A rem
nAnt OF this power is sopn IN tn,
ability Of the body to heal u scIaicn or
wound; but this power does noI eXtenl
TO the growing Of limit, nor to til,
reproduction, by mere division ne il
lower iorms, oil a complete duplicate
oi iIsslf.
tCIESTIFIC MEANING OF DEATH.
Death scientifically dsdueI i.
therefore, RESTRICTED reproduction
Tnuse parts W inch havs lost the pOws
to TeproUuce might be called excrt
ments or bi-products OF tho life prime
ple. They i've on by reason ussoci
alton with the vital or TepIogucuv
patl, nut death 10 there ana the IA
comes Wnen the life principle transfer