BASIS OF INVESTIGATION. 73 



those of the next. This substance, the germ plasm, is located in the 

 cell-nucleus, and possesses, by virtue of its extraordinary complex- 

 ity of structure, the capacity to develop into a very complex organ- 

 ism. The germ cells of successive generations are related in the 

 same way as a series of generations of unicellular beings which, are 

 derived, one from another, by continued divisions." 



Weismann's statements are quite positive and he is probably as 

 competent as any one to speak of the elements and origin of germ- 

 plasm, but when his theories in regard to them force an explanation 

 which is inconsistent with known facts we cannot do otherwise but 

 consider such an explanation unsatisfactory. 



