hitroduetory 11 



the theory in the hands of the French biologists considered 

 above. It has on the contrary arisen in a sense de novOy and 

 in consequence of a growing recognition of the inadequacy 

 of elcnientalism as bodied forth in tlie cell theory applied 

 to the development of individual organisms. So while we 

 listen now to voices that have been raised against the at- 

 tempt to explain ontogenesis as a cellular phenomenon mere- 

 ly, it must be borne in mind that we are doing so not for 

 the purpose of examining the cell doctrine in general, but 

 only to fix attention on the historical fact that the elemen- 

 talist standpoint as manifested in this aspect of the cell 

 theory finds itself face to face once again with its old 

 opponent, the organismal standpoint. The cell theory as 

 such will demand a chapter for itself, when its turn comes. 

 The case of the organismal theory is shown with special 

 clearness in the writings of three American biologists, C. O. 

 Whitman, E. B. Wilson and F. R. Lillie. Whitman, as is 

 well known, was primarily an embryologist, his best re- 

 searches having been on the development of leeches and 

 bony fishes, and his observations in this field were the start- 

 ing point for his views on the relation existing between 

 cells and the organism. In his essay, The Inadequacy of the 

 Cell-Theory of Development, he says : "Comparative em- 

 bryology reminds us at every turn that the organism domi- 

 nates cell-fonnation, using for the same purpose one, several, 

 or many cells, massing its material and directing its move- 

 ments and shaping its organs, as if cells did not exist, or as 

 if they existed only in complete subordination to its will, 

 if I ma}^ so speak." "^ And he ends the essay The Seat of 

 Formative and Regenerative Energy, with this : "The fact 

 that physiological unity is not broken by cell-boundaries is 

 confirmed in so many ways that it must be accepted as one 

 of the fundamental truths of biology." ^ The reader should 

 not fail to notice that while in both these essays Whitman's 

 arguments were against the hegemony of cells, in the one 



