heterogeny

(53) In defending On the Origin of Species against the criticisms of Richard Owen, who favored the Lamarckian idea of "heterogeny" or spontaneous generation from a "vitally acting slime," Darwin suggested that "the nature of life will not be seized on by assuming that Foraminifera [aquatic microorganisms] are periodically generated from slime or ooze." (54) Hopkins thus makes this image do a good deal of allusive work, whether by registering the scriptural terms for divine creation, remembering those of a cognate metaphysics, pointing to the negative associations of industrial mire, or adapting the lexicon of scientific debates about origins and spontaneous generation.

Yet, we do well to remember that not all traumas are created equally and that even within the context of those "heterogenous elements" of which Solomon and Huang speak in their warning about essentializing the idea of "Asia," there is interesting heterogeny.