58 Heredity and Social Progress 



and the movements of the organism corre- 

 lated. A germ cell, while confined in the 

 ovary, is under the same influences as are 

 the somatic cells. It is, however, in a posi- 

 tion to be more easily severed from the 

 mother organism and to go more readily 

 through the changes that an independent 

 organism demands. If severe shocks or in- 

 juries throw off some essential part, the re- 

 duction through the expulsion of polar bodies 

 prepares the way for its regeneration. The 

 cutting off of the more specialized parts of a 

 cell involves the simplification and regenera- 

 tion of the remainder. Regeneration is the 

 power of a part to become a whole ; but the 

 specialization must be lost before fresh growth 

 is possible. This may happen not only in 

 simple organisms where the shock or emo- 

 tion affects the parts injured, but also in com- 

 plex organisms where the shock is carried 

 along by the nervous system and not through 

 the somatic cells. In the latter case, how- 

 ever, the shock is felt in parts of the body 

 distant from the seat of injury. These, then, 

 would be the parts affected by the emotion, 



