LIFE AND DEATH. 125 



which he propounded in describing- the development of Bombinator, 

 according to which the egg-cell of the higher Metazoa must pass 

 through a process of rejuvenescence representing death, before it 

 can become a germ. 



According to Gotte's 1 idea 'the egg of a Bombinator igneus before 

 fertilization cannot be considered to be a cell either wholly or in 

 part ; and this is equally true of it at its origin and after its complete 

 development ; it is only an essentially homogeneous organic mass 

 enclosed by a membrane which has been deposited externally.' 

 This mass is ' unorganised and not living 2 ,' and ' during the first 

 phenomena of its development all vital powers must be excluded.' 

 In this way the continuity of life between two successive in- 

 dividuals is always interrupted ; or, as Gotte says in his last 

 essay : ' The continuity of life between individuals of which one 

 is derived from the other by means of reproduction, exists neither 

 in the rejuvenescence of the Monoplastides nor in the condition 

 of the germ among the Polyplastides a condition which is derived 

 from the former 3 . 



This is quite logical, although in my opinion it is both un- 

 proved and incorrect. But, on the other hand, it is certainly 

 illogical for Gotte to derive the death of the Metazoa in a totally 

 different way, i. e. from the dissolution of their cell-colonies. It is 

 quite plain that the death of the Metazoa does not especially 

 concern the reproductive cells, but the individual which bears them ; 

 Gotte must therefore seek for some other origin of death an 

 origin which will enable it to reach the body (soma) as opposed 

 to the germ-cells. If there still remained any doubt about the 

 failure to establish a correspondence between death and the encyst- 

 ment of the Monoplastides, we have here, at any rate, a final demon- 

 stration of the failure ! 



But there is yet another great fallacy concealed in this derivation 

 of the death of the Polyplastides. 



Among the lowest Polyplastides, where all the cells still remain 

 similar, and where each cell is also a reproductive cell, the dissolu- 

 tion of the cell-colony is, according to Gotte, to be regarded as death, 

 inasmuch as ' the integrity of the mother-individual absolutely 



1 ' Entwicklungsgeschichte der Unke,' Leipzig, 1875, p. 65. 



2 Id., p. 842. 



3 ' Ursprung des Todes,' p. 79. 



