1899] JVEISMANN'S "REGENERATION" 457 



those of plants a reduction of the number of chromosomes takes place " 

 (p. 325). [The fact reversed is that the reduction, be its mode and 

 interpretation what they may, takes place in the asexual spore formation 

 in Archegoniate plants, not in the formation of the sex-cells.] 



Canon IV. — The names of observers may be cited in support of a 

 Weismannic interpretation of the facts, without mentioning that the 

 observers themselves maintain that the facts arc irreconcilable with these 

 interpretations. 



Example. — ■" I need only mention the names of Boveri, Henking, 

 Vom Eath, Eiickert, Hacker, Korschelt, Ischikawa, and Van der 

 Stricht ; and in the domain of botany, Strasburger, Ischikawa, Calkins, 

 Beliejeff, and G-uignard." This follows a statement on the reduction 

 processes in the nucleus : " I therefore altered my second hypothesis 

 to a third, according to which both divisions of the ripening ovum 

 together imply a reduction in the number of ids, and this position I 

 still maintain " (p. 324). [Yet the observations of Boveri, Guignard, and 

 Strasburger are regarded by them as inconsistent with " this position?} 



Canon V. — It is immaterial to acknowledge Weismann's debt to 

 those who have pointed out the untenability of his former theories, and 

 induced him to recast them on a sounder logical basis. 



Example. — " It is immaterial whether I myself or one of my 

 sharp-sighted critics was the first to discover this mistake" (p. 326). 

 [In what sense is it immaterial for the constructor of a theory to 

 acknowledge his debt to those who point out that its foundations are 

 unsound ?] 



Queen's College, Cork, 

 May 11, 1899. 



