246 THE CYCLE OF CELL-DIVISION 



immediately appreciated. We, of course, maintained 

 that the divisions were induced by a specific chemical 

 substance contained in the stain, pointing out that 

 lymphocytes had never been seen to divide before, and 

 that mitosis will onlv occur in them if they absorb a 



/ / 



certain quantity of the substance. But our friends 

 "one and all began to make excuse." Some said that 

 the divisions were in the nature of a death-struggle; 

 they pointed out a fact which we admitted that 

 death always was premature, and it usually occurred 

 during the act of mitosis. We explained the cause of 

 death, but still the suggestion of the "death-struggle" 

 was maintained by some in the absence of proof 

 against it. 



Others suggested that the divisions were entirely 

 artificial and not at all like the natural method of cell- 

 proliferation, although they had never seen the latter. 

 We admitted the fact that at this stage of our re- 

 searches we could only induce divisions in lymphocytes, 

 and we could only do this with an entirely artificial 

 anilin dye; but still we found it difficult to appreciate 

 why a cell should go out of its way to divide by an 

 entirely abnormal process. We suggested that we 

 thought that if a cell was going to divide at all, it 

 would try to do so by the normal process to which 

 it was accustomed. But the suggestion that the mitotic 

 divisions were "freaks" remained to be disproved. 



It appeared to us a remarkable thing that a cell 

 should try to reproduce itself by cell-division in a 

 death-struggle; it seemed such a futile thing for it 

 to do. Moreover, other stains such as ordinary 



