FrenzeVs Mesozoon SaliiicUa. 481 



and its tintlici- coii.s;'(jucnccs, aiul then term simply ilevclop- 

 mctit. A continuous and inevitaljlc clian;^c in the condition 

 (mobile condition?) of matter in f^-eneral is tlie common 

 destiny of the universe, and is the equivalent of existence and 

 the progress of the world. In speaking of phylogenetic 

 development we refer this general change only to one special 

 case, to that of living beings, where it proceeds at different 

 rates according to the qualities of the Protoblasts, but every- 

 where essentially in the same direction and according to the 

 same laws. 



Certain cells in the Metazoon, owing to their peculiarly 

 favourable conditions of life, attain to more of the original 

 independent vital energy of the unicellular ancestors than do 

 the rest : these cells are the reproductive ones. The egg-cell 

 of Salinella proves the originality (low stage of development) 

 of the species also through the very fact that, as a simple cell- 

 individual, it possesses even more vital energy than does the 

 egg-cell in all Metazoa, In a general way it is perhaps pos- 

 sible to advance the proposition, somewhat paradoxical though 

 it appears, that the higher oeganization of the multi- 

 cellular INDIVIDUAL IS TO BE REGARDED AS THE CONSE- 

 QUENCE OF THE GRADUAL DEGENERATION OF THE SEPARATE 

 CELL-INDIVIDUALS WHICH COMPOSE IT. 



To briefly sum up what has been stated in the foregoing 

 pages, I consider Salinella as a highly valuable and interesting 

 discovery precisely because, in opposition to Frenzel's view, 

 it at once fits in thoroughly well with our present biological 

 theory as to the origin of the Metazoa, and, so to speak, fills 

 a gap in the series of facts for our deductions. Frenzel is 

 certainly quite right when he states in the concluding words 

 of his article {' Biologisches Centralblatt ; ' Ann. & Mag. Nat. 

 Hist. loc. cit.) that there are isolated links in Nature " for 

 which we cannot find a place in our system, beautifully and 

 ingeniously constructed though it is, and which tend to prove 

 how little Nature is amenable to a dogmatic treatment on our 

 part, a treatment which unfortunately appears to take the 

 upper hand too much in the biological sciences, and which 

 would gladly exclude everything which does not fit into its 

 narrow frames." Happily, however, this great truth does 

 not apply to Salinella ! *. 



Kolozsvar, 

 October, 1891. 



* I have already given expression to views as to the simplest living 

 beings, the impossibility of separating the ideas of life and individuality, 

 and the import and causes (.pf reproduction (tissioii) &c., which are iu 



Ann. (£• Mag. N. llist. Ser. G. Vol. ix. 'Si^ 



