CH. IV] THE CELL THEORY . 287 



In the long interval since Goodsir's day, the visible structure, 

 the conformation and configuration, of the cell, has been studied 

 far more abundantly than the purely dynamic problems which are 

 associated therewith. The overwhelming progress of microscopic 

 observation has multipHed our knowledge of cellular and intra- 

 cellular structure ; and to the multitude of visible structures it has 

 been often easier to attribute virtues than to ascribe intelUgible 

 functions or modes of action. But here and there nevertheless, 

 throughout the whole hteratiire of the subject, we find recognition 

 of the inevitable fact that dynamical problems lie behind the 

 morphological problems of the cell. 



Biitschli pointed out sixty years ago, with emphatic clearness, 

 the failure of morphological methods and the need for physical 

 methods if we were to penetrate deeper into the essential nature of 

 the cell*. And such men as Loeb and Whitman, Driesch and Roux, 

 and not a few besides, have pursued the same train of thought and 

 similar methods of enquiry. 



Whitman t, for instance, puts the case in a nutshell when, in 

 speaking of the so-called " caryokinetic " phenomena of nuclear 

 division, he reminds us that the leading idea in the term ''caryo- 

 kinesis'' is ynotion — "motion viewed as an exponent of forces 

 residing in, or acting upon, the nucleus. It regards the nucleus 

 as a seat of energy, which displays itself in phenomena of motion X-^' 



In short it would seem evident that, except in relation to a 

 dynamical investigation, the mere study of cell structure has but 



* Entwickelungsvorgdnge der Eizelle, 1876; Investigations on Microscopic Foams 

 and Protoplasm, p. 1, 1894. 



t Journ. Morphology, i, p. 229, 1887. 



t While it has been very common to look upon the phenomena of mitosis as 

 sufficiently explained by the results towards which they seem to lead, we may find 

 here and there a strong protest against this mode of interpretation. The following 

 is a case in point: ''On a tente d'etablir dans la mitose dite primitive plusieurs 

 categories, plusieurs types de mitose. On a choisi le plus souvent comme base 

 de ces systemes des concepts abstraits et teleologiques : repartition plus ou moins 

 exacte de la chromatine entre les deux noyaux-fils suivant qu'il y a ou non des 

 chromosomes (Dangeard), distribution particuliere et signification dualiste des 

 substances nucleaires (substance kinetique et substance generative ou hereditaire, 

 Ilartmann et ses eleves), etc. Pour moi tous ces essais sont a rejeter categorique- 

 ment a cause de leur caractere finaliste; de plus, ils sont construits sur des concepts 

 non demontres, et qui parfois representent des generalisations absolument erronees.'' 

 A. Alexeieflf, Archiv fiir Protistenkunde, xix, p. 344, 1913. 



