BODY SIZE AND CELL SIZE' 



EDWIN G. CONKLIN 

 From the Biological Laboratory, Princeton University 



TWELVE FIGURES 



In his very thoughtful and suggestive address at the Zoological 

 Congress of the World's Columbian Exposition on "The In- 

 adequacy of the Cell Theory of Development" Professor Whitman 

 ('93) pointed out the fallacy of the view, prevalent since the time 

 of Schleiden and Schwann, that ''organization means cellular 

 structure and that ontogeny means cell formation." On the 

 other hand he maintained that "organization precedes cell forma- 

 tion," and that "the secret of organization, growth, development 

 lies not in cell formation, but in those ultimate elements of liv- 

 ing matter for which idiosome seems to me an appropriate name." 



The truth and importance of this position were well supported 

 in his argument and have been justified by later work on the or- 

 ganization of the germ cells, as well as by the older work on the 

 Protozoa; but no one would have been more ready than Professor 

 Whitman to recognize the fact that this protest against a dominant 

 doctrine did not express the whole truth. It may be granted 

 that a certain amount of organization precedes cell formation 

 without granting that all organization does. Indeed we know 

 that the latter is not true; very much of the organization which 

 we see in higher organisms occurs only after cell formation, and, 

 in all probabihties, as a result of it. Indeed the organization 

 which is possible without cell formation is probably only such as 

 is found among Protozoa and germ cells. 



What the full meaning of cell formation in the development 

 of higher organisms is we do not know, but it seems practically 



1 Prepared for The Whitman Memorial Volume, but received too late to be 

 included. 



159 



