48 Kansas Academy of Science. 



He also thinks that conjugation is a chemical stimulation which 

 takes place by an interchange of nuclear material from individuals 

 that have lived in different environments. 



The chemical complex of the nucleus is perhaps determined by 

 generations of varied environment and is influenced indirectly by 

 immediate chemical change. Conjugation is probably in the na- 

 ture of a chemical stimulus, but stimulation produced by crude 

 chemical stimulation cannot produce the same result. 



Loeb's well-known experiments on the unfertilized egg of the 

 sea-urchin seems to give especial emphasis to the theory of chem- 

 ical stimulation. 



There is no doubt that chemical processes occupy an important 

 place in life phenomena. Living organic matter is composed of 

 highly complex organic compounds in a state of unstable equilib- 

 rium. Take away life and we place these complex compounds in 

 stable equilibrium. The greater the vitality of an organism the 

 more unstable is the equilibrium. When an organism begins to 

 die it is approaching stable equilibrium. Slight variations in the 

 chemical composition in the fluid supplied for the nourishment of 

 a cell probably tends to maintain this unstable chemical equilib- 

 rium for a while ; but in time this unstable equilibrium must be 

 reenforced by a delicately complex stimulation from the nucleus of 

 another individual. 



