58 Vitality and Organization of Protoplasm. 



what we call "chemical"' is a name for a definite set of phenomena ex- 

 pressed in terms of sensorial affections, and mostly in those of visual 

 space-manifestations; in fact in terms of visual consciousness. 



ORGANIC DIFFERENTIATION. 



It has to be asked : How do organisms come to be at all constituted 

 and structurally differentiated as they are actually found to be? 



In order to gain a scientific understanding of the conditions that give 

 rise to the shaping and definite organic differentiation of protoplasmic 

 individuals, it will be best to have recourse again to primitive forms of 

 life, where all vital activities take place in visible and transparent unity. 

 Here we find certain amoeboid beings, whose living substance forms, as 

 explained in the former section, one single, self-rounded pseudopodium 

 or process, "exhibiting no trace of morphologically established organiza- 

 tion; but forming nevertheless an organism composed of all the essen- 

 tial appurtenances of complex vitality." "The entire chemical cycle 

 constituting the organism and its vitality is here observable. It is dis- 

 tinctly perceived how the complex chemical circuit gives rise to the 

 definite location of all the chief differentiations found in advanced or- 

 ganization." ("The elementary functions and the primitive organiza- 

 tion of protoplasm." St. Thomas' Hospital Keports, 1879.) 



It will be seen that the attempt was there made to attack the problem 

 recently pointed out by Driesch as only vitalistically interpretable ; the 

 problem of the interdependent localization of the differentiated tissues 

 that constitute the unitary organism. Driesch clearly recognized the im- 

 \ possibility of solving it mechanically by mere juxtaposition of separate 

 units, or dynamically by the influence of external stimulation. When 

 venturing a solution of this obscure problem on the evidence afforded 

 by the study of Protozoa; other evidence then lacking, I was well aware 

 that on such meager grounds the interpretation ■ given would appear 

 highly fanciful. I formulated the problem in the following terms: 

 "Why, then, is the morphological unit (Paramecium aurelia) con- 

 structed such as it is ? Why is it thus shaped ? Why has it an oral 

 and an aboral pole, an integument, a contract] 1 layer, a digesting sub- 

 stance, etc." Conscious of the boldness of proposing such an inquiry, 

 I added : "These are questions that sound strange indeed, almost as 

 emanating from the school of Schelling or Oken; yet it will presently 

 be seen how completely justified they are from a strictly scientific point 

 of view." ("The Unity of the Organic Individual," Mind, No. xx, 

 1880.) 



Now that with the help of experimental ontogeny and experimental 

 regeneration investigators have penetrated more deeply than before the 

 secrets of vitality and organization, it may be hoped that, assisted by 

 this new light, the interpretation of these fundamental biological phe- 

 nomena, reached long ago, and reiterated in English and German pe- 

 riodicals, will no longer be overlooked. It will be found in essential 



