366 



APPLICATIONS OF RESULTS OF RESEARCHES. 



and secondarily by the factor that activates it. In other 

 words, from this initial stereodicmic system there arises 

 a complex heterogeneous system that ultimately is mor- 

 phologically expressed in the histology of the matured 

 ovule and from which are formed a composite of cor- 

 related, independent, interdependent, and differentiated 

 masses which represent different phases of the compon- 

 ents of the initial system which have been modi lied 

 not only physico-chemically as expressed by changes in 

 physical, mechanical, and chemical properties, but also 

 in developmental energies; and from this composite art? 

 developed successively other systems. 



Owing to the great impressionability and plasticity 

 of such an exceedingly complex stereochemic system as 

 the germplasm, it follows that the germplasm. must be 

 extremely sensitive to changes in internal and external 

 conditions, and that its operations and products may 

 be so materially modified by changes in its molecular 

 arrangements or components as to give rise to variables 

 that are manifested in the transmutability of sex, varia- 

 tions, fluctuations, mutations, deformities, retrogres- 

 sions, tumor formation, immunities, etc. 



Assuming in accordance with our conception that 

 the germplasm is in its incipiency an unequilibrated 

 stereochemic system that is characteristic of the inherent, 

 fundamental stereochemic system of the parent, it fol- 

 lows, as a corollary, that having a highly specialized 

 form of parental structural material with peculiar 

 energy-properties, the offspring must of necessity pos- 

 sess essentially the same fundamental characteristics as 

 the parents when normal fecundation has occurred, and 

 that it would be quite as impossible to have any other 

 result than in ordinary chemical reactions under given 

 conditions of experiment. The essential characters cf 

 the building material as regards substances, arrange- 

 ments, and energy-properties are definitely fixed within 

 narrow limits of variation. 



That the peculiar forms of stereoisomerides or inti- 

 mately related bodies that are inherent in the parent 

 are conveyed in the germplasm to the offspring, and 

 hence of necessity serve to distinguish a given form of 

 germplasm from that of any other species or genus, and 

 that the stereochemic conception of the nature of the 

 germplasm is capable of laboratory demonstration, are 

 instanced in the results of the investigations of Kossell 

 and his students who found that simple forms of pro- 

 tein, known as protamins, obtained from the sperma- 

 tozoa of different species of fish are different, each being 

 apparently of a form peculiar to the source. Here is 

 one substance at least that seems to be in specific stereo- 

 isomeric forms in the sperm of different species, which 

 obviously must affect the properties of the gcrmplani, 

 and which when brought in contact with the germplasm 

 of the egg plays its part in determining the phenoin"na 

 of development. Moreover, by the " precipitin reaction " 

 method Blakeslee and Gortner have found evidence that 

 is consistent with the conclusion that there are not only 

 " species proteins " but also " sex proteins," and this 

 receives support in a number of very recent investiga- 

 tions, especially those of Steinach, who found that the 

 corresponding hormones secreted by the ovaries and 

 testicles are different, and that by virtue of these differ- 

 ences the secondary sexual characters, female and male, 



are determined. Thus he found in castrated young 

 males, in which transplantation of ovaries had been 

 practised, that the development of masculine peculiari- 

 ties is inhibited and female traits substituted, so that 

 the individuals tend to assume the female type and be- 

 come to a striking degree feminizcd-males, as shown in 

 bodily form, in a development of the mammary glands, 

 in lactation, and in an alteration of psycho-sexual char- 

 acters. Lillie, in studies of the explanation of the steril- 

 ity of females of opposite-sexed twins, has presented evi- 

 dence of the existence of sex hormones, and both Lip- 

 schiitz and Morgan have recorded facts to justify the 

 belief that the testicular hormone furthers the develop- 

 ment of male characters and inhibits the development of 

 female characters, while the ovarian hormone favors the 

 development of female characters and inhibits the devel- 

 opment of male characters. This dual property is ob- 

 viously of great fundamental importance in the explana- 

 tion of various sex phenomena which have been quite 

 inexplicable. Furthermore, Riddle has found that the 

 ova of the pigeon are dimorphic, one-half having an in- 

 herent tendency to produce males and the other half 

 females ; that eggs with the male tendency have a higher 

 percentage of water, a smaller size, and a lower percent- 

 age of potential energy; and that the " sex-foundation " 

 of the germplasm is transmutable, so that an egg that lias 

 inherently the male tendency may become female, and 

 that such females exhibit secondary male sexual charac- 

 ters. The transmutability of the germplasm is compara- 

 ble in its physico-chemical mechanism to the reversion 

 of the maltose-dextrose-glucase reaction caused by a 

 change in concentration of the solution, the dextrose 

 being reverted into isomaltose and not to the antecedent 

 maltose the male egg is not changed into a female 

 egg, but into a modified or feminized-male egg. 



In considering the transmissibility of parental sub- 

 stances it is essential to distinguish positively between 

 the stereoisomerides and intimately related bodies that 

 are inherent in the parent and those which are acquired 

 through infection or otherwise. Thus antibodies ac- 

 quired by the mother may be without influence upon 

 the ovary during the formation of the germplasm and 

 not even become a constituent of the latter. On the 

 other hand, an immunity may be established in the 

 mother that may be conveyed to the offspring, yet, 

 curiously enough, such an immunity may not be trans- 

 mitted by the immunized male. In processes of the 

 production of the germplasm the ovary may be as insen- 

 sitive to the presence of many acquired sub-tance-s of 

 the blood as are some or all other organs, and there is no 

 more reason in general for expecting the ovary ami its 

 product to be affected by such bodies or conditions than 

 there is for the pancreas and the pancreatic juice or any 

 other secretory structure and its product to be affected. 

 Every acquired substance must in its relations to the 

 ovaries be governed by the same physico-chemical laws 

 as determine specific select ivitics or react.ivilies in con- 

 nection with the tissues generally. Hence, any such 

 substance may be reactive in relation to one structure, 

 but not to another. 



Plasticity as regards sex-determination has been dem- 

 onstrated in the studies of the development of a male 

 (drone) bee from the unfertilized egg, and of a female 



