Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/548

 THE BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIOLOGY 1

G. ARCHDALL REID, M.B., F.R.S.E. London

Probably no facts can be named of such importance as those of heredity. They lie at the basis of every science and every pur- suit that deals with living beings. Hardly a social, moral, or intellectual question can be thought of but we find that in its deeper aspects it is a problem of heredity. Heredity concerns not only the philosopher and the man of science, but also the parent, the teacher, the doctor, and even the statesman, the social reformer, and the historian. Properly handled, it is not a very abstruse subject. We are able to reach tolerably certain conclu- sions without traveling much beyond the range of knowledge common to most educated men. Nevertheless, though in all ages heredity has greatly interested all men, it has as yet few real stu- dents. The very interest it has excited has burdened it with superstitions, which in the past have been accepted as matters of common knowledge by men of science, who have added to the obscurity by elaborately seeking to explain the existence of the non-existent, the possibility of the impossible. Only very recently have some of these cobwebs been swept away.

The basis of all life is the cell. A cell is a minute mass of living protoplasm. Cells multiply by absorbing nutriment and dividing into two or more daughter-cells. In the lowest organ- isms the daughter-cells separate. Each individual, therefore, consists of a single cell. Higher organisms consist of many, it may be billions, adherent cells which work together for the com- mon benefit. Among the cells of multicellular individuals are the germ-cells, to which is delegated the function of producing future individuals, future cell-communities. A germ-cell from one indi-

1 Read before the Sociological Society, at the School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), Clare Market, W. C, October 24, 1905. Sir John A. Cockburn in the chair.

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