CONCLUSIONS 461 



The question may also be raised as to why the degenerative changes in the 

 various cells during inanition are so similar, not only in the various types of 

 total and partial inanition, but likewise in many other abnormal conditions 

 such as extremes of temperature, fatigue, toxic or electrical stimuli, etc. Sund- 

 wall ('17) emphasized passive congestion (due to cardio-vascular exhaustion) 

 as a common, underlying factor in the various forms of inanition, but this 

 explanation is inadequate for plants and lower animals. A more probable 

 hypothesis is that the effects are similar because all these conditions obstruct 

 the normal cell metabolism, thereby causing similar degenerative cell phenom- 

 ena (Jackson '16). Ultimately these changes, like the variations in resistance, 

 are doubtless explainable upon a physico-chemical basis. The funda- 

 mental similarity in the cellular results of such varied conditions recalls the 

 dictum of Cuenot ('94) that "la plupart des influences de milieu se ramenent 

 en somme a des differences de nutrition." 



Nutrition is thus a factor of primary importance for morphology as well as 

 for physiology. The form and structure of all living organisms are clearly 

 dependent in large measure upon the quantity and quality of their nutriment. 

 The effects of inanition of various types apparently account for many of the 

 variations observed among living organisms, under both normal and abnormal 

 conditions. A knowledge of these effects gives a deeper insight into the process 

 of morphogenesis and a means whereby it may be experimentally controlled 

 to a degree hitherto generally unrealized. Furthermore, even though 

 it be contrary to the generally accepted biological doctrine, there is another 

 possibility which must be considered. Not only the somatoplasm, but under 

 certain circumstances even the germ plasm may perhaps be essentially modified 

 by nutritional conditions, a possibility of fundamental significance for heredity 

 and evolution. 



