KEPRODUCTION BY FISSION. I91 



Now, when one examines this simplest form of propaga- 

 tion, this self-division, it surely cannot be considered 

 wonderful that the products of the division of the original 

 organism should possess the same qualities as the parental 

 individual. For they are parts or halves of the parental 

 organism, and the matter or substance in both halves 

 is the same, and as both the young individuals have 

 received an equal amount and the same quality of matter 

 from the parent individual, one can but consider it 

 natural that the vital phenomena, the physiological qualities 

 should be the same in both children. In fact, in regard to 

 their form and substance, as well as to their vital phenomena, 

 the two produced cells can in no respect be distinguished 

 from one another, or from the mother cell They have 

 inherited from her the same nature. 



But this same simple propagation by self-division is not 

 only confined to simple cells — it is the same also in the 

 higher many-celled organisms; for example, in the coral 

 zoophytes. Many of them which exhibit a high complexity 

 of composition and organization, nevertheless, propagate 

 themselves by simple division. In this case the whole 

 organism, with all its organs, falls into two equal halves as 

 soon as by growth it has attained a certain size. Each half 

 again develops itself, by growth, into a complete individual. 

 Here, again, it is surely self-evident that the two products 

 of division will share the qualities of the parental organism, 

 as they themselves are in fact halves of that parent. 



Next to propagation by division we come to propagation 

 by the formation of buds. This kind of monogony is 

 exceedingly widely spread. It occurs both in the case of 

 simple cells (though not frequently) and in the higher organ- 



