292 The Unity of the Organism 



ing it, was able to make the hypothesis that the creature is 

 unicellular, was undoubtedly a very great help toward mak- 

 ing out the details of the structure and instituting the com- 

 parisons preliminary to assigning the organism to a place 

 in the system of classification. The generalized observa- 

 tional knowledge which is the backbone of natural science is 

 impossible without a central concept or mental construction 

 of some sort to which new observations can be brought for 

 testing and standardization, and finally for assignment to 

 their proper place in the general scheme. Sound science as 

 well as common knowledge refuses, consequently, to abandon 

 its general views, especially if these have been truly helpful, 

 even though their inadequacy, or actual erroneousness may 

 have become manifest. The oft-repeated statement that 

 a wrong theory is better than no theory has the sanction 

 of psychology and logic, as well as of the universal concaten- 

 ation of nature. Outgrown or erroneous theories must be 

 supplanted rather than abandoned. Their places must not 

 be left vacant, but filled by other and better theories. 



These general considerations taken by themselves make 

 it extremely improbable that Dobell's proposal to reform 

 interpretation of the protista as non-cellular instead of 

 unicellular will meet with wide approval. Non-ccllularity is 

 pure negation, and so lacks the essentials of a "working 

 theory." Furthermore, from the side of clear objectivity, 

 a proposal which involves the denial of cellularity to such 

 an organism as an amoeba or a gregarine because only one 

 cell is present in it, violates the principles of sobriety and 

 consistency, so vital to true science, and ought not to be 

 sanctioned. 



The reformation of theory touching the cellular nature 

 of the protista which it seems to me is demanded by the 

 facts will, I hope, be apparent to any one who has followed 

 the discussion to this point. The concept cell must be held 

 in strict subordination to the concept organism in this as in 



