AUXETICS ARE NECESSARY 



335 



chemical agents; and if these agents are not present, 

 there will be no cell-division. 



In the case of leucocytes. For nearly a century 

 and a half these cells have been observed in the blood. 

 Every doctor and student of medicine must have seen 

 them alive repeatedly, and yet not a single person had 

 ever seen them divide. Now, however, if one makes 

 them absorb certain chemical agents the cells divide im- 

 mediately; and what is more, we have shown that the 

 rapidity of onset and the time occupied by each division 

 varies directly with the quantity of the substances 

 absorbed by the cells. Cell-division appears to be a 

 physical phenomenon which can be measured in the case 

 of each cell in proportions of grammes of the chemical 

 auxetics absorbed by them. We have shown how it 

 can be set down as a simple mathematical equation. 

 It must be admitted that in spite of the fact that 

 blood-cells have not been seen to divide without an 

 auxetic, there is no actual proof that a cell cannot 

 divide without one. It has yet to be proved that 

 human leucocytes have no inherent power to multiply 

 "when they feel so inclined," but it is a remarkable 

 thing that no single leucocyte, out of the many millions 

 which have been seen by men, should ever have de- 

 veloped this inclination during nearly a century and a 

 half. On the other hand, we know that if we cut our 

 fingers and so produce the remains of dead tissues 

 containing kreatin and xanthin, proliferation of leuco- 

 cytes occurs immediately; and the greater the injury, 

 the greater the cell-proliferation. 



We think that if the problem is carefully con- 



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