39f) The Unity of the Organism 



the karjokinetic figure, and it is no longer possible, in con- 

 sequence, to distinguish the parts of the achromatic spindle 

 which are of intra nuclear and extra nuclear origin re- 

 spectively. Nuclear and cytoplasmic elements are in com- 

 plete cooperation." ^^ 



Minchin's reference to the researches of Hertwig on the 

 Heliozoa, indicated in the above quotation, makes this an 

 appropriate place to call attention to the great interest, 

 from our standpoint, whlcli attaches to Hertwig's denial of 

 Absolute Power of the nucleus in the life of the cell, as in- 

 dicated by his well-known theory of nuclear-protoplasmic 

 relation. Recognizing tlie great weight of the views of this 

 investigator as touching the main issue here does not neces- 

 sarily commit us one way or the other as to all the details 

 of tlie "nucleo-plasmic relation" hypothesis. 



The reader's attention is called again to the argument 

 that the morphological elements and the activities displayed 

 in this reproduction are in themselves manifestations of 

 heredity, based on the fact that they pertain to different 

 though rather closely related species of animals, each one 

 of which presents its own particular type of the phenomena. 

 Actinosphaeriiim and Actinophrys are closely related gen- 

 era, among the differential attributes of which is this very 

 matter of difference in the structure and relations and ac- 

 tivities of the various elements collaborating in their propa- 

 gation. Each genus is true to its type in these attributes 

 as well as in others. How then is it possible, consistency 

 and fair dealing being assumed to be cardinal virtues of 

 science, to refuse to recognize that not only the behavior of 

 the chromosomes in the two cases, but likewise that of the 

 achromatinic framework and the archoplasmic bodies, are 

 themselves manifestations of heredity, and that the substance 

 of each in the initial stage of the series is a "physical basis 

 of heredity.?" 



