This doctrine of the continuity of germ-plasm throws a fresh light on
the nature of human relationships. It is evident that the son who
resembles his father can not accurately be called a "chip off the old
block." Rather, they are both chips off the same block; and aside from
bringing about the fusion of two distinct strains of germ-plasm, father
and mother are no more responsible for endowing the child with its
characters except in the choice of mate, than is the child for "stamping
his impress" on his parents. From another point of view, it has been
said that father and son ought to be thought of as half-brothers by two
different mothers, each being the product of the same strain of paternal
germ-plasm, but not of the same strain of maternal germ-plasm.
Biologically, the father or mother should not be thought of as the
_producer_ of a child, but as the trustee of a stream of germ-plasm
which produces a child whenever the proper conditions arise. Or as Sir
Michael Foster put it, "The animal body is in reality a vehicle for ova
or sperm; and after the life of the parent has become potentially
renewed in the offspring, the body remains as a cast-off envelope whose
future is but to die." Finally to quote the metaphor of J.
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