CELL AND ORGANISM 



105 



Its fate is unknown but presumably it 

 would soon die for lack of synthetic power 

 to restore the cytoplasm by regeneration in 

 the absence of one member of the pair con- 

 stituting the cell, namely, the cytoplasm. 



The evidence obtainable from structural 

 conditions observed in the Protozoa suggests 

 that our view of the evolution of the Meta- 

 zoa from the Protozoa must be broadened 

 so as to get rid of the idea of the union of 

 "noncellular" organisms to form a multi- 

 cellular one. In the life cycle of the organ- 

 ism both are alike unicellular and multi- 

 cellular and colony formation is only one 

 phase of multicellularity. Among proto- 

 zoans there frequently occurs the multipli- 

 cation of nuclei within the cytoplasm of an 

 already highly differentiated organism. 

 Such organisms are as truly multicellular 

 as is a Volvox with cellulose wall about the 

 cytoplasmic domain of each nucleus, 

 pierced, however, by intercellular proto- 

 plasmic bridges, suggestive of organismal 

 unity and integration. 



This review of the emergence in the Pro- 

 tozoa of the beginnings of organ s.ystems is 

 in harmony with the epigenetic concept of 

 evolution. The elaboration of organ sys- 

 tems in the Metazoa utilizes the intracellular 

 achievements and the multicellular tenden- 

 cies of the Protozoa as foundations for 

 further evolutionary developments. 



The adoption of the pattern or organ- 

 ismal concept of the living body in its early 

 evolution will serve a useful function in 

 clarifying our ideas of the evolutionary 

 process. It may afford us a more reliable 

 and truer picture of the similarities of 



Protozoa and Metazoa and eventually en- 

 able us to discover more evidence of the 

 paths of descent and relationships emerging 

 from the extraordinarily diverse types of 

 organisms among the Protista. 



A second function which the organismal 

 concept may afford the biological sciences 

 is to lay a sounder foundation for the 

 budding scientific discipline of ecology. 

 The organism as a whole is marvelously 

 adapted to its environment. It is linked to 

 it by indissoluble bonds, past and present. 

 The scientific analysis of these complicated 

 and continuing interrelations may be facili- 

 tated by regarding the organism not merely 

 as the sum of its individual cells, but as 

 essentially a pattern of interacting parts, 

 evolved even in the initial phases not by 

 summation but by integration. 



This point of view has implications in 

 wider fields. It will establish etiological 

 factors in disease in true relations to the 

 organism and favor treatment of patients 

 rather than diseases. It may bring to agri- 

 culture, which is really only a phase of con- 

 trolled ecology, a new breadth and length 

 of view which will provide a sounder policy 

 of conservation of natural resources and a 

 wider perspective of the problems of distri- 

 bution. Analysis and synthesis are two in- 

 separable interacting modes of scientific 

 thinking; they are analogues of the nu- 

 cleus and cytoplasm of the cell. May 

 the next century of cellular biology com- 

 bine them in a balance of endeavor which 

 will afford unity, give impetus, and in- 

 sure progress in this basic field of the bio- 

 logical sciences. 



