These atoms, on the other hand, are utterly invisible, intangible; indeed, in the words of Mr.Darwin, inconceivable.

Thus, then, it results from the theories in question, that the organic world is reduced to utter unreality as regards all that can be perceived by the senses or distinctly imagined by the mind; while the only reality consists of the invisible, the insensible, the inconceivable; in other words, nothing is known that really is, and only the nonexistent can be known.

A somewhat paradoxical outcome of the speculations of those who profess to rely exclusively on the testimony of sense.

"_Les extremes se touchent_," and extreme sensationalism shakes hands with the "das seyn ist das nichts" of Hegel.
Altogether the hypothesis of Pangenesis seems to be little, if at all, superior to anterior hypotheses of a more or less similar nature.
Apart from the atoms of Democritus, and apart also from the speculations of mediaeval writers, the molecules of Bonnet and of Buffon almost anticipated the hypothesis of Pangenesis.

According to the last-named author,[228] organic particles from every part of the body assemble in the sexual secretions, and by their union build up the embryo, each particle taking its due place, and occupying in the offspring a similar position to that which it occupied in the parents.