APPLICATIONS OF RESULTS OI' RESEAR< I U.S. 



367 



from the fertilized egg. Moreover, the developing female 



bee when fed on ordinary food becomes a c non female 



"worker," bnt when fed on royal food devel p- mto a 

 queen. ( - s < e also pages 31 5 and 31 6. i 



The continuity of the building material between 

 parenl and offspring is seen in its simplest manifesta- 

 tions in reproduction among protozoa by binary fission 

 and budding, by which the part separated from the 

 parenl mass is in all essential respects like the parent, 

 having the same fundamental physico-chemical com- 

 position and constitution. That in such instances the 

 off spring should be a segmental counterpart of the parent 

 mass seems as obvious as that halves of a cube of sugar 

 should be alike. Similarly, if we have j n the ovule 

 and sperm forms of protoplasm which as stereo hemic 

 systems are in all fundamental respects counterparts of 

 these from which the parents were developed, it follows 

 that the offspring must under normal conditions in ac- 

 cordance with the laws of physical chemistry have the 

 same fundamental parental characteristics, as much so 

 as separated portions of any complex stereochemic sys- 

 tem must possess the properties of the initial mass 

 Moreover, if the stereochemic systems of germplasms of 

 the female and male differ, as must he admitted, it 

 is manifest that the stereochemic system of the egg that 

 has been activated artificially or naturally, as the case 

 may lie. must he different and hence undergo develop- 

 ment differences that will be obvious in the offspring. 

 In the first instance, the serial reactions which lead to 

 the formation of the different tissues, etc. are activated 

 by a mere disturbance of physico-chemical equilibrium, 

 which may he due to the conversion of a proenzyme into 

 enzyme or a prosecretin to a secretin, or in other words 

 of an inactive body into an active one. In the s. o d 

 instance, there is not only activation, but the extremely 

 important addition of the male stereochemic system 

 which by admixture with the female system constitu es 

 a female-male system. Therefore, in the first place the 

 offspring is developed solely from the female stereo- 

 chemic system, and in the second place from the com- 



I female and male system-, i or the other of 



which may he wholly or in part a ountable in determin- 

 ing certain peculiarities in the ilex- ll changes. 

 Moreover, owing to the transmutability of stereoisome- 

 rides and the multiphase transmutability of stereoohemic 

 s\ terns, coupled with the reversibility «\' metabolic 

 processes which may be due to even the simplest of 

 changes in physico-chemical mechanisms, we have a 

 logical basis for the explanation of the phenomi 

 sexual dimorphism that is expressed in the so-called male 

 and female ova. and male and female spermatozoa; of 

 primary and secondary hermaphroditism; of paradoxi- 

 cal sex developments where the unfertilized egg develops 

 into either male or female offspring; and of sexual trans- 

 mutability of the inherently male or female ovule. 



It follows upon the basis of our theory that because 

 of the inherent peculiarities of the stereochemic systems 

 of the germplasms and the definitely predetermine'! 

 nature of the entire series of reactions in accordance with 

 the laws of physical chemistry that "like begets like" 

 because like every other physico-chemical phenomenon, 



individual or siti.iI. singli oplex, under given condi 



tions, it is a physico-chemical fatality. 



PEO i OPLASMIC Si I i;i I • ' AlTI.ll 



the Explanation >>i thk Mechanism "i Vaca- 

 tions, Spoets, !• Li i 1 1 -\ i io >*s, 1'. re. 



Among the most constant phenomena of living mat- 

 ter is inconstancy or variation. The fundamental 

 reasons for this peculiarity are to be found in thi 

 treme ity, impressionability, and plasticity <i 



the molecule of proto plasm in association with u 

 ing and varying kinds and degrees of environmi 

 hai geff. Plasticity is a property that is doubtles com- 

 mon to every form of matter, the degree within 

 wide limits in different nbstanci and under vai 

 conditions. Oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, sulphur, selen- 

 ium, phosphorus, arsenic, tin, iridium, palladium, and 

 other clement- have long been known to be allotropic; 

 calcium nitrate and metaphosphate, ammonium n 

 and fluosilicate, sih ir nitrate and iodide, calcium car- 

 bonate, silica, copper sulphate, iron sulphate, magne- 

 sium sulphate, mercuric eliloride and iod.de. zinc 

 ride, arsenious and antimonious oxides, potassium bi- 

 chromate and ammonium paratungstate, are only a few 

 of the simple inorganic compounds that have been found 

 to be dimorphous oi polymorphous; and the k 

 organic or carbon compounds that exist in multiple 

 forms are so numerous as to make an ngly large 

 list. In some instances the differences in form are said 

 to indicate merely differences in physical nature, there 

 being variations in color, hardness, density, melting- 

 point, crystalline form, etc., without change in chei 

 properties; but in others the differences are both p 

 cal and chemical and the latter may eompletelv over- 

 shadow the former. Perhaps there is no more re: 

 able or suggestive instance of difference in pro] > 

 that is associated with diff in molecular form 

 than that of strychnine in ordinary 1 and colloidal states. 

 the latter having only one-fourth the toxicity oi I 

 former; and one wonders, apart from anything else, 

 what changes have occurred in the properties of the 

 various non-colloidal substai h as inortranic salts 

 when they have become an integral part of the molecule 

 of the most complex of all colloids - protoplasm. M 

 over, change from one state or pi ase into another is 

 usually brought about by very simple means, such as 

 mere solution, heat, sunlight, repeated recrystallization, 

 gelation, chemical reagents, etc. (See Publication No. 

 173. Tntroduct 0.) 



Water, while among the simplest ^ubstan es of 

 nature, is endowed with most extraordinary properl 

 especially in connection with living matter. It exhibits 

 arkable degree of plasticity in its molecular stru - 

 ture. The universal conception up to ver I ears 



that water is correctly represented by the symbol 11 2 " 

 has been shown to be untenable r very 



limit d con litions, and it si ■ mold ule 



must be looked upon as being in the form of a molecular 

 system that consists of 11. <» (monohydrol), (II .01, 

 (dihydrol ). and (H 2 0) i trihydrol ). 

 portions in relation to temperature and pressure, i 

 which are readily convertible from one form into an- 

 other by changes in attendant conditions. Tt is asst 

 that when polymerization occurs there takes place a 



a] i ombinati molecules an ' 



with this combination changes occur in properties, such, 



