24 SYMBIONTICISM AND THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 



account by Portier. (The author pubhshed a critical analy- 

 sis of Portier's experiments in 1923 (Wallin, '23).) The 

 nature of the organisms cultured in Portier 's experiments, 

 apparently, had none of the properties ascribed to mito- 

 chondria; they not only resisted the action of acetic acid, 

 alcohol and ether, but Portier maintained that the organisms 

 retained life after being kept in absolute alcohol, for example, 

 for very long periods. Such properties are incompatible 

 with the known properties of living matter, or protoplasm. 

 The Paris biologists who examined Portier's preparations 

 were convinced that the growths obtained represented 

 contaminations . 



It is evident from this brief review of mitochondrial 

 hterature that misleading assumptions have served to color 

 the interpretations in connection with mitochondrial re- 

 search. The solution of the central problem in this field of 

 investigation — the nature of mitochondria — gives promise 

 of the most fundamental and far-reaching modifications in 

 our conceptions of the cell. Certainly, the most generally 

 accepted views on the nature of mitochondria have had no 

 real basis for their pronouncement; nor have these views 

 led the way to any real advance in a better appreciation of 

 cell physiology. 



