132 The Unity of the Organism 



rightlv interpreted it opposes them. He does indeed main- 

 tain that molecular structure a's known to the chemist 

 can not be the only kind which eludes observation. "These 

 molecules," he says, are "not merely building stones placed 

 one beside the other in a simple fashion, but are united to- 

 gether in an ingenious (liunstrcich) living organization."^'*^ 



And referring back to the paragra])h quoted, in which 

 the differences in structure between small and large or- 

 ganisms are dwelt upon, we find an unmistakable indica- 

 tion tliat the mode of conceiving, as one may say, which 

 Briicke would hold, might.be legitimately applied to the 

 ultramicroscopic structure of organisms: "We may always 

 see in the cell a small animal body and ought never to lose 

 sight of the analogies which exist between it and the smallest 

 animal forms." -" That is, each living cell at any and every 

 moment has organization of its own beyond what we can see 

 with the microscope, the organization being analogous to 

 that which exists in the smaller animals. No vagaries here 

 about an organization in one cell (a germ cell) which rep- 

 resents the visible organization of some other cell-organism 

 developed from that cell. 



In another passage Briicke sounds a warning about theo- 

 rizing in this domain of biology which, had it always been 

 heeded, would have prevented much wandering about in a 

 morass of speculation. "Desirable as it is," he says, "al- 

 ways to hold rigorously to immediate observation, equally 

 necessary is it not to close the spiritual eye to that which 

 is inaccessible to observation, so that we overprize the work 

 of our microscopical determinations and with the help of 

 final words (Schlagworter) — cell- membrane, cell-contents 

 and cell-nncleus, erect physiological doctrines w^hich a fu- 

 ture generation may refuse recognition." '^ 



To be sure, the author was aiming in this at doctrinal 

 perils considerably^ different from those of recent "repre- 

 sentative biological units," but the essence of his warning 



