WEISM ANN'S THEORY OF THE GERMPLASM 35 



nucleus of which it is contained. As the thousands 

 of cells which constitute an organism possess very 

 different properties, the chromatin which controls 

 them cannot be uniform ; it must be different in 

 each kind of cell.' 



Moreover, on p. 45 (of the English edition), ' The 

 fact itself ' (the capacity on the part of the idio- 

 plasm for regular and spontaneous change) f is 

 beyond doubt. When once it is established that 

 the morphoplasm of each cell is controlled, and its 

 character decided, by the idioplasm of the nucleus, 

 the regular changes occurring in the egg-cell, and 

 the products of its division in each embryogeny, 

 must then be referred to the corresponding changes 

 of the idioplasm.' 



Finally, on p. 205 (of the English edition), ' The 

 cells of the segmenting ovum are completely dis- 

 similar as regards their hereditary value, although 

 they are all young and embryonic, and are not in- 

 frequently quite similar in appearance. It there- 

 fore seems to me to follow from this, as a logical 

 necessity, that the hereditary substance of the egg- 

 cell, which contains all the hereditary tendencies of 

 the species, does not transmit them in toto to the 

 segmentation cells, but separates them into various 

 combinations, and transmits them in groups to the 

 cells. I have taken account of these facts in con- 

 sidering the regular distribution of the determinants 

 of the germplasm, and the conversion of the latter 

 into the idioplasm of the cells in the different 

 stages of ontogeny.' 



In the different propositions I have quoted, we 



