CHAPTER IV 



SPECIFICITY IN FERTILIZATION 



I. We have become acquainted with two character- 

 istics of living matter : the specificity due to the specific 

 proteins characteristic for each genus and possibly 

 species and the synthesis of living matter from the 

 split products of their main constituents instead of 

 from a supersaturated solution of their own substance, 

 as is the case in crystals. We are about to discuss in 

 this and the next chapter a third characteristic, namely, 

 the phenomenon of fertilization. While this is not 

 found in all organisms it is found in an overwhelming 

 majority and especially the higher organisms, and of 

 all the mysteries of animated nature that of fertiliza- 

 tion and sex seems to be the most captivating, to judge 

 from the space it occupies in folklore, theology, and 

 " literature." Bacteria, when furnished the proper 

 nutritive medium, will synthetize the specific material 

 of their own body, will grow and divide, and this process 

 will be repeated indefinitely as long as the food lasts 



and the temperature and other outside conditions are 



71 



