3i6 Phillips on a Comparative Study of the 



observation. In one place Wolle claims that the cells begin 

 dividing on one side and this concert of division would 

 cause that side to become longer and cause a flexion of the 

 trichome or the oscillatory motion. In another place he 

 considers the creeping motion to be due to the growth and 

 multiplication of the cells in the trichome. But as this creep- 

 ing motion is in no way accompanied by the oscillation or 

 undulatory movement which the one-sided splitting was sup- 

 posed to cause, the cells would have to divide evenly on both 

 sides, instead of from alternating sides as the first part of 

 his theory supposed. 



Here is where observation shows us the fallacies that 

 theory alone may build up. The facts are, these cells do not 

 begin to divide on one side first, but equally on both sides. 

 Aloreover, aside from the mathematical alternation from 

 side to side, which this theory supposes in the divisions, and 

 the unheard-of rapidity with which they must occur in order 

 to account for the backward and forward oscillations, if 

 there should be an organism in which the partition walls 

 were laid down from one side, it would differ from any 

 other known cell, and be contrary to the laws of physics if it 

 were to swell out that side of the cell more than the other. 

 Further, observation also shows us that the trichomes move 

 fastest in the daytime, while the cells multiply most rapidly 

 in the middle of the night. Even in the night when the 

 growth is most rapid and the motion almost stopped — 

 probably would be completely so were it not for the light 

 necessary in process of observation — the growth can 

 scarcely equal the rate claimed by Wolle and his followers. 

 Another point overlooked by these investigators, is that both 

 ends of the trichome move in the same direction and at the 

 same rate of speed, which would be impossible if the multi- 

 plication of cells caused the movement. 



Strasburger (75) said: "Simultaneously the threads 

 show irregular flexions, or nutations, which are the expres- 

 sions of the existing differences in the intensity of growth 



