Comparison with Darwin's Hypothesis 209 



wall arising between the two halves forms a primary pit. 

 At that place the wall between the separated corner and 

 the underlying cell is dissolved, and contact being thus 

 established between the two protoplasts, they fuse. The 

 old poreless cross-wall is thus replaced by a new one that 

 contains a pore. But the interesting point for our pur- 

 pose is the circumstance that the underlying cell has now 

 received a nucleus from its upper neighbor. It has two 

 nuclei, and later it becomes multi-nuclear by nuclear 

 divisions. For all those who regard the nucleus as the 

 bearer of the herditary endowment, a transmission of the 

 latter here takes place from one cell to another. But 

 obviously again without any significance for the theory 

 of heredity. 



The possibility of a transmission of material bearers 

 of hereditary characters from one cell to another can 

 therefore not be denied. Further investigations will, 

 without doubt, bring to light other facts that can be util- 

 ized for the same purpose. And that here and there, in 

 plants, processes take place in a similar way, which stand 

 in direct relation to heredity can, of course, not be denied 

 a priori. 



But it is quite another question whether such a trans- 

 mission occurs commonly, and plays an important role 

 in the transmission of hereditary characters in the whole 

 plant and animal world. 



Anatomical facts alone are not sufficient to answer this 

 question. From them, only the possibility of a transmis- 

 sion can be deduced or, more correctly speaking, the con- 

 clusion that our present knowledge does not furnish any 

 reasons which would make that transmission appear im- 

 possible. It may be that such a thing will be discovered 

 later. But it is not likely that anybody will think it is 



