The Transportation of Pangcns 201 



logical place where the material bearers of the hereditary 

 qualities are stored.* This thread would, therefore, con- 

 sist of pangens united into smaller and larger groups, 

 and it shows, in its thickest portions a distinct structure 

 of special particles strung together. We can entirely 

 agree with the opinion of Roux, where he sees, in the 

 longitudinal splitting of the nuclear skein, the visible 

 part of the separation of the maternal factors into the two 

 halves destined for the two daughter cells. ^ This concep- 

 tion is in most complete harmony with pangenesis. 



4. The Transportation of Pangens 



Our hypothesis that all protoplasm consists of pan- 

 gens, led us to the conclusion that all kinds of pangens 

 are represented in the nucleus. Here, most of them are 

 inactive, while in the remainder of the protoplasm, they 

 can become active. From this it follows that, from time 

 to time, pangens are transported from the nucleus to the 

 other organs of the protoplast. 



I am quite aware that, with most readers, this de- 

 duction will prove the chief difficulty against my view. 

 The pangens are invisible, therefore their transportation 

 eludes observation. It is true that the experiments of 

 Nussbaum, Gruber, and Klebs, discussed in the preceding 

 Sections, prove that, on cutting off the opportunity of 

 transportation, the functions of the protoplast are very 

 greatly restricted, but there is here a possibility of many 

 other influences being at work. Therefore I should here 

 like to emphasize the fact that, by rejecting my hypothe- 



*Cf. the Translator's Preface, p. viii. 



^Roux. Ueher die Bedeutung der KerntheUungsfignrcn. Leipzig. 

 1883. 



