If only deductively reached, this conclusion would, I think, be fully justified. But now observe that it is more than deductively reached. It is established by observation. Professor Riley, Ph.D., late Government Entomologist of the United States, in his annual address as President of the Biological Society of Washington,[[134]] on January 29, 1894, said:—
"Among the more curious facts connected with these Termites, because of their exceptional nature, is the late development of the internal sexual organs in the reproductive forms." (p. 34.)
Though what has been shown of the Termites has not been shown of the other social insects, which belong to a different order, yet, considering the analogies between their social states and between their constitutional requirements, it is a fair inference that what holds in the one case holds partially, if not fully, in the other. Should it be said that the larval forms do not pass into the pupa state in the one case as they do in the other, the answer is that this does not affect the principle. The larva carries into the pupa state a fixed quantity of tissue-forming material for the production of the imago. If the material is sufficient, then a complete imago is formed. If it is not sufficient, then, while the earlier formed organs are not affected by the deficiency, the deficiency is felt when the latest formed organs come to be developed, and they are consequently imperfect.
Even if left without reply, Professor Weismann's interpretation commits him to some insuperable difficulties, which I must now point out. Unquestionably he has "the courage of his opinions;" and it is shown throughout this collateral discussion as elsewhere. He is compelled by accumulated evidence to admit "that there is only one kind of egg from which queens and workers as well as males arise."[[135]] But if the production of one or other form from the same germ does not result from speciality of feeding, what does it result from? Here is his reply:—
"We must rather suppose that the primary constituents of two distinct reproductive systems—e. g. those of the queen and worker—are contained in the germ-plasm of the egg."[[136]]
"The courage of his opinions," which Professor Weismann shows in this assumption, is, however, quite insufficient. For since he himself has just admitted that there is only one kind of egg for queens, workers, and males, he must at any rate assume three sets of "determinants." (I find that on a subsequent page he does so.) But this is not enough, for there are, in many cases, two if not more kinds of workers, which implies that four sets of determinants must co-exist in the same egg. Even now we have not got to the extent of the assumption required. In the address above referred to on "Social Insects from Psychical and Evolutional Points of View," Professor Riley gives us (p. 33) the—
Forms in a Termes Colony under Normal Conditions.
1. Youngest larvæ. | |||
| 2. Larvæ [of those] unfit for reproduction.  | 3. Larvæ [that will be] fit for reproduction.  | ||
| 4. Larvæ of workers. | 6. Workers. | 5. Larvæ of soldiers. | 7. Soldiers. | 8. Nymphs of 1st form. | 10. Winged forms. | 11. True royal pairs. | 9. Nymphs of 2nd form. |
Hence as, in this family tree, the royal pair includes male and female, it results that there are five different adult forms (Grassi says there are two others) arising from like eggs or larvæ; and Professor Weismann's hypothesis becomes proportionately complicated. Let us observe what the complications are.
It often happens in controversy—metaphysical controversy more than any other—that propositions are accepted without their terms having been mentally represented. In public proceedings documents are often "taken as read," sometimes with mischievous results; and in discussions propositions are often taken as thought when they have not been thought and cannot be thought. It sufficiently taxes imagination to assume, as Professor Weismann does, that two sets of "ids" or of "determinants" in the same egg are, throughout all the cell-divisions which end in the formation of the morula, kept separate, so that they may subsequently energize independently; or that if they are not thus kept separate, they have the power of segregating in the required ways. But what are we to say when three, four, and even five sets of "ids" or bundles of "determinants" are present? How is dichotomous division to keep these sets distinct; or if they are not kept distinct, what shall we say to the chaos which must arise after many fissions, when each set in conflict with the others strives to produce its particular structure? And how are the conquering determinants to find they ways out of the mêlée to the places where they are to fulfil their organizing functions? Even were they all intelligent beings and each had a map by which to guide his movements, the problem would be sufficiently puzzling. Can we assume it to be solved by unconscious units?