THE APPLE 215 



of a single flower cluster is a thought that makes 

 strange appeal to the imagination of the intelli- 

 gent plant developer. 



When he pollenizes a flower he is bringing to- 

 gether two germinal microcosms each of which, 

 rightly viewed, is a universe within itself. 



He is dealing with individual life histories and 

 with the histories of races. 



He is performing, as I said before, the most 

 marvelous of all experiments. 



He deals with the same matter with which the 

 chemist deals in his laboratory; but with this 

 matter aggregated into new and wonderful com- 

 binations which alone make possible those re- 

 sponses to the environment and that primeval 

 capacity for growth and of self -reproduc- 

 tion that differentiates what we call living 

 tissue from the matter out of which it is 

 constructed. 



But if the plant experimenter must be allowed 

 to indulge in such visions he must none the less 

 remember that the microcosm of the germ cell 

 represents after all only a transitory and transi- 

 tional phase in the life cycle of the organisms 

 with which he deals. 



He may ponder over the mysteries of the nu- 

 cleus of the germ cell, but he cannot offer that 

 nucleus for sale in the market. 



