134 LIFE AND DEATH. [III. 



specific protoplasm, by means of which the identity of its 

 substance is fixed by heredity,' a ' marvellous process in which 

 phenomena the most important in the whole life of the animal, 

 and in fact of all organisms — reproduction and death — have 

 their roots ' (1. c, p. 8i). Whether such re-coining really takes 

 place or not, at any rate I claim to have shown above that it 

 does not correspond with death in the Metazoa, and — if it is 

 represented at all in these latter — that it ought to be looked for 

 in the reproductive cells ; and indeed, in another passage, 

 Gotte himself has placed the process in these cells. 



While, among the Monoplastids, according to Gotte, the causes 

 of the supposed death lie hidden in this mysterious change of 

 the organism into reproductive material, Gotte asserts that 

 among the Potyplastids (such as Magosphaera, hypothetically 

 perfected so as to form a genuine Polyplastid), the causes of 

 death operate so that the organism breaks up into its component 

 cells, all these being still reproductive cells — a process which, 

 unlike ' rejuvenescence,' has nothing mysterious about it, and 

 which is certainly not genuine death. In the Orthonectid-like 

 animals death does not occur as a consequence of the dispersal 

 of the reproductive cells, but rather because the part of the 

 animal which remains is so small and effete that, being unable 

 to support itself, it necessarily dies. From this point at least the 

 object of death and the conception of it remain the same, but 

 now the idea of reproduction undergoes a change. When the 

 Rhabdite females of Ascaris are eaten up by their offspring, is 

 this mode of death connected with the 'rejuvenescence of proto- 

 plasm '? (1. c, p. 34.) Is there any deep underlying relationship 

 between such an end and the essential nature of reproduction ? 

 The same question may be asked with regard to the 'Redia or 

 the Sporocj'St of Trematodes, which are converted into slowly 

 dying sacs during the growth of the Cercariae within them.' 

 We cannot speak of the 'fatal influence of reproduction' among 

 tape-worms just because ' in the ripe segments the whole 

 organization degenerates under the influence of the excessive 

 growth of the uterus.' It certainly degenerates, but only so far 

 as the developing mass of eggs demands. In fact, at a suffi- 

 ciently high temperature, death does not occur, and such 

 mature segments of tape-worms creep about of their own accord. 

 We cannot fail to recognize that in this as well as in the above- 



