404 TRANSACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS OF [Sess. lvi. 



I assume now, according to the hypothesis of katabolism 

 and anabolism, that as soon as distinct evidences of, say, 

 male characteristics can be demonstrated in a unisexual 

 individual, that the respective individual has acquired a 

 katabolic habit. We have, however, seen that the term 

 katabolism is equivalent to a reduction in the amount of 

 the cell's capital of living matter. 



Let us now take " man " as an illustration. At the fourth 

 month of intra-uterine life the sexes are distinct, and if the 

 foetus be a male, then we must suppose that it has acquired 

 already a katabolic habit, and that the older it gets, i.e., as 

 its primary and secondary sexual characters develop more 

 and more, that katabolism will keep step with this develop- 

 ment, nay, what is more, that it will be the cause of this 

 special development. The natural question arises, if a four 

 month old fretus has acquired a katabolic habit, and if the 

 units building up the foetus, i.e., if its cells, are katabolic, how 

 can the foetus develop into a strong man ? Each cell, kata- 

 bolic at the fourth month, and living on its capital of proto- 

 plasm, undergoes division, and the daughter-cells, more 

 katabolic than their parents, must reduce the original capital 

 even more. Notwithstanding this continual and ever- 

 increasing loss of capital, the foetus develops into the active 

 boy and the vigorous man. Surely katabolism must stop 

 somewhere and analxJism take its place, or how could we 

 have an increase in bulk ? 



A cell whose original capital has been reduced by kata- 

 bolism from 100, say to 80, divides, and if division be equal, 

 each daugliter-cell will obtain a capital equal to 40, and each 

 daughter-cell, following in the habits of its mother, will 

 reduce the capital even more, say to .'50, and will, on division, 

 provide either of its ofl'springs with only a capital of 15. 

 Such a habit would very soon lead to an exhaustion of the 

 capital, or, in otlicr woids, there would Itc no jilasm left to 

 undergo division, and the fteius, instead of growing to 

 maturity, would become reduced to a heap of waste products 

 (katastates). 



If, then, we cannot imagine a katabolic male embryo to 

 develop into an adult organism without anal)olism prepon- 

 derating, i.e., construe! ivo metabolic clianges, after each cell- 

 division, increasing tlie liulk of ca])ital received by each 



