Origin of Sexuality 287 



Now, in all the groups from the Hepaticse upward, sexuality 

 as such does not differ fundamentally from what we encounter 

 in the higher green algae. That is, two complemental cells 

 unite, or apparently more exactly one chromatin nucleus of 

 small size, but of like or nearly like morpho-physiological 

 value with the other, approaches and fuses with the protoplasm 

 and nucleus of the attractmg cell, owing to lines of attractive 

 physico-chemical energetics exerted by the egg and most power- 

 fully by the egg nucleus, and reacted to by the sperm nucleus. 

 If the two belong to parent plants that for long generations 

 have been exposed to like environment, the resulting embryo 

 will develop under the same environment into a like organism 

 as the parents. If the two belong to parent plants that differ 

 from each other varietally or specifically, the resulting embrj^o 

 will develop into an organism that more or less exactly blends 

 the characters of the diverse parents, if the en^dronment and 

 the degree of molecular blending and physico-chemical energy 

 make for the formation of a medium between, or a divergence 

 from, that typical for one or other of the parents. If the two 

 nuclei originate as in the first instance, but the resulting em- 

 bryo be exposed to different environal states than was either 

 parent, and if such states be not prejudicial to its growth and 

 continued life, the resulting organism will be so affected that 

 it or its descendants under like environment will show changed 

 morpho-physiological features. 



But, whether the resultant organism be like or unlike a blend 

 of the parents, all our knowledge tends to prove that the like- 

 nesses or unlikenesses are fundamentally due to lines of stereo- 

 energetics that traverse molecules and place these in definite 

 connection with each other. So whether we study the motile 

 sperm nucleus and the archegonial egg of Bryophyta and 

 Pteridophyta, or the motionless sperm nucleus and the em- 

 bedded egg of flowering plants, the researches of Pfeffer, Shi- 

 bata, and Miyoslii amongst others indicate that an attractive 

 action and reaction in line with the egg and sperm nucleus 

 occur, while as yet these are removed from each other by several 

 diameters of the egg. Such attraction seems at least in part 



