336 ON THE NUMBER OF POLAR BODIES ETC. 



thesis, I hope to be able to show that it has not been rashly adopted, 

 but that it has grown in a natural manner from the secure founda- 

 tion of ascertained facts. 



Nothing impresses the stamp of truth upon an hypothesis more 

 than the fact that its light renders intelligible not only those facts 

 for the explanation of which it has been framed, but also other 

 and more distantly related groups of phenomena. This seems to 

 me to be the case with my hypothesis, since the interpretation of 

 polar bodies and the ideas derived from it unite from very different 

 points of view, the facts of reproduction, heredity and even the 

 transformation of species, into a comprehensive system, which 

 although by no means complete, is nevertheless harmonious, and 

 therefore satisfactory. 



Only the most essential elements of the new facts which form 

 the foundation of the views developed in this essay will be briefly 

 mentioned. My object is to show all the theoretical bearings of 

 these new facts, not to describe them in technical detail. Such 

 a description accompanied by the necessary figures will shortly be 



given in another place 1 . 



A. W. 



FREIBURG i. BR., May 30, 1887. 



1 See Berichten der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft zu Freiburg i. B., Band III. 

 (1887) Heft i, 'Ueber die Bildung der RichtungskiJrper bei thierischeu Eiern,' by 

 August Weismann and C. Ischikawa. 



