296 THEORETICAL BIOLOGY 



a part of its organs is necessary, it will take place without 

 regard to the functional connection with other organs, as 

 happened before the critical point. On the contrary, the 

 requirement is now raised to the normal at each reconstruction 

 of the framework. 



During the time that elapses up to the critical point, 

 the direction of construction alone is active With the 

 development of the framework the direction of working comes 

 into its own. It is transferred to impulse-systems separated 

 from one another in space, which influence one another 

 reciprocally. 



INTERNAL EQUILIBRIUM 



Each impulse-system governing a genetical building-stone 

 constitutes a self-contained unity, which continually strives 

 to repair, after every injury, the protoplasmic structure under 

 its control, independently of the amount of material at its 

 disposal. In the beginning, the genetical building-stones are 

 few in number, and of very simple form. In the course of 

 development, they multiply, and assume more and more com- 

 plicated forms ; and concurrently there proceeds the dis- 

 tribution of the genes to the cells, which become more and 

 more numerous. As this happens, the impulse-systems 

 belonging to these gradually separate off in a perfectly regular 

 way. But so long as it is active, every impulse-system 

 forms a unity, which is held together by its internal 

 equilibrium. If a germinal area is halved, each half gets 

 half the building-material of protoplasm ; each half remains 

 connected with half the number of impulses, but this in itself 

 forms no unity and possesses no rule, unless the internal 

 equilibrium reconstructs the rule of the whole system. A 

 rule is effective as a whole, or not at all. A rule is independent 

 of the number of times it is used ; accordingly, it may just 



