140 Causes and Course of Organic Evolution 



molecules that they, in virtue purely of chemical affinity, 

 influenced every future cell of the descendant organism, or 

 that the spermatozoid introduced a so condensed and perfect 

 amount of some kind of energy that this started the complex 

 molecules of the egg to vibrate and coalesce in such rhythmic 

 unity that exact lines of force were established between the 

 two as to cause all subsequent complex molecules to exhibit 

 blended characters. 



Equally true too would it be that, when the complex mole- 

 cules of the sperm and egg are derived from parent forms that 

 are widely apart systematically and so morphologically as 

 well as physiologically, minute differences in the rhythmic 

 vibrations, and in the physico-chemical relation of the chrom- 

 atin in each to the other, may be such as to cause, in the at- 

 tempted fusion of both, a complete disorganization of their 

 substance. For in sperm and egg maturation and subsequent 

 fusion we have to deal with enormously more complex phe- 

 nomena than any mere mixing, or action and reaction, of purely 

 inorganic bodies. 



Fusion of a free sperm nucleus then, with an encysted egg 

 nucleus, we would regard as an excellent exhibition of cognitic 

 energizing activity, and of the establishment of lines of force 

 that permeate every part of the resulting organism. Some of 

 the exhibitions of this that the writer has called attention to 

 (63: 250) are marvelously exact. Thus in the formation of 

 starch grains, that are a purely secondary product of cell activ- 

 ity, these show the blended peculiarities of the starch grains 

 of both parents to a minute degree. Now the upbuilding of 

 each such grain is effected by agency of a chromatin plastid, 

 that expends energy not only in linking together the highly 

 complex colloid molecules, but in so accurately molding and 

 fitting these on an exact stereo-chemical plan that the funda- 

 mental character of the grain of each parent is accurately 

 reproduced, in blended fashion, in that of the hybrid. The 

 recent studies of my colleague Reichert are a valuable confir- 

 mation and demonstration of this principle, as applied to starch 

 grains in general. 



