I04 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[June. 



of the Infusoria, and especially the 

 extensive chapter on their conjugation. 



No one, indeed, was more fit to 

 express himself on this interesting 

 subject, especially as regards my 

 investigation of it, than Balbiani. In- 

 deed, he was the pioneer in the 

 investigation of this unexplored field 

 — an investigation, whose depth, 

 scope and accuracy is amazing, if we 

 reflect that they have been conducted 

 under and retarded by an erroneous 

 conception of the nature of the pro- 

 cesses investigated. 



Under these circumstances every- 

 body can conceive the great satisfaction, 

 which I felt, when on looking over 

 Balbiani's publications, I noticed, that 

 his recently repeated researches on the 

 conjugation of Infusoria led him to 

 corroborate everything essential and 

 to give up entirely his former views on 

 the course of this process. This 

 corroboration of my observations 

 coming as they did from most com- 

 petent authority, were very welcome 

 to me, in spite of Balbiani's slight ob- 

 jections, for I had felt that in the 

 course of years the result of my in- 

 vestigations had been received with 

 some distrust. 



This I regret, was owing partly to 

 those, who attempted to see what I 

 could see. Now, having experienced 

 how many pupils of mine had to work 

 hard to fully observe the process, I 

 conceive that it requires considerable 

 exercise, and that one has to meet 

 with numerous unsuccessful attempts 

 before he reaches the full understand- 

 ing of the matter. 



Having been, as stated above, 

 favorably surprised to learn that 

 Balbiani now agrees with me perfectly 

 regarding the process of conjugation 

 of, and in the conjugated infusorias, 

 how much greater was my surprise 

 on reading the following passage with 

 \which Balbiani concludes his descrip- 

 tion of the conjugation : " Je me 

 .trouve ainsi ramend aux iddes que 

 j'ai ^mises, il y a plus de vingt ans, 

 sur la signification de la conjugaison ; 

 il n'y a de changd que quelques details 



du processus, mais le fond de I'inter- 

 pretation est reste le meme qu'il y a 

 vingt ans. Biitschli a done, par ses 

 travaux, rendu services a cette idee, 

 et Ton pent se demander meme, si c.t 

 observateur eminent, en refusant de 

 reconnaitre la ge'neration sexuellc 

 des infusoires, n'est pastombe dans 

 une erreur plus grande que je I'avais 

 fait jadis. En somme, il laisse Ic 

 phe'nomene de la conjugaison plus 

 obscur qu'il n'e'tait avant ses re- 

 cherches, et si j'ai reussi a jeterquelque 

 jour sur ses faits, j'aurai completement 

 atteint le but que je m'e'tais propose." 



One who knows Balbiani's and my 

 former investigations on the conjuga- 

 tion of Infusorias, must be astounded 

 at the courage which our French 

 colleague possesses, to send forth such 

 a statement, which, at best, some 

 would call a "pyramidal" one. He may 

 possibly, with such statements, deceive 

 his pupils in the college of France. 

 In Germany, however, and in the rest 

 of the zodlogical world (except per- 

 haps in a part of the French one) I 

 confidently hope he will not succeed. 



Let us look closer however into the 

 assertions contained in that passage. 

 Let us see what views Balbiani held 

 twenty years ago on the mode of con- 

 jugation, and the views that I ex- 

 pressed in 1876, of which Balbiani in 

 1882 confirmed, as stated, all the 

 essentially important points. 



According to his results in 186 1, the 

 essential part of the conjugation con- 

 sists in the following : 



1. Infusoria are animals, which 

 in regard to their propagation are like 

 the Metazoa. They contain an ovar)' 

 (the so-called nucleus) and one or 

 more testicles (nucleoli). 



2. The mode of propagation is also 

 similar to the copulation (coition), ex- 

 cept this peculiarity, that the ma- 

 turity of the sexual organs and their 

 products begin during the act of 

 conjugation. 



3. During or after the act of 

 conjugation one or more eggs are 

 developed out of the ovary (nucleus), 

 which eggs are sent forth after the 



