JUGGLING WITH LIFE 



sor Loeb himself in 1912 extended his tests to the 

 eggs of the batrachian, and caused unfertilized eggs 

 to hatch and develop into tadpoles. In one case the 

 animal was carried past the tadpole stage, and as- 

 sumed the contour of the mature frog. It gave full 

 promise of attaining maturity, but unfortunately, it 

 met an untimely end by drowning. 



Experiments of this character assuredly break in 

 on the ordinary course of biological events. Yet they 

 are not altogether without natural precedent. The 

 very lowest orders of organisms, such as protozoans 

 and bacteria, habitually reproduce their kind by 

 mere cell division. Even such highly developed 

 organisms as the honey bee may produce offspring 

 parthenogenetically. Indeed, it is well-known that 

 the male bees are habitually so produced. It is only 

 the "workers" of the hive that have two parents. 



Notwithstanding these familiar facts of life in the 

 apiary, and facts of similar import regarding certain 

 other insects, the experimental development of 

 unfertilized eggs in the case of the sea-urchin and 

 the frog must strike the thoughtful observer as be- 

 ing essentially mysterious. So far as known, unfer- 

 tilized eggs of sea-urchins and frogs never do de- 

 velop in the ordinary process of Nature. The pro- 

 vision that every individual shall have two parents, 

 and represent the blending of two sets of tendencies, 

 is so nearly universal that it has come to have the 

 force of a profound natural law, notwithstanding the 

 exceptions just noted; and the artificial infringement 

 of that law suggests a very interesting juggling with 

 personalities. 



H5 



