42 Nature of the Formative Stimulus 



Hertwig seems to have of protoplasmic connections, for 

 while it is true that he never discusses such a continuous 

 nervous flux and speaks only of the transmission of 

 nuclear stimuli, nevertheless this latter conception in our 

 mind implies the former. To sum up our conception of 

 these protoplasmic connections we could almost adopt 

 the very words of this investigator : "It is probable that 

 this transmission of nuclear stimuli by protoplasmic fila- 

 ments will be much less rapid and less intensive than 

 nerve conduction, but perhaps for this very reason will 

 be more continuous and by reason of its duration more 

 efficacious." 19 



It is quite unnecessary to draw especial attention to 

 the fact that the vegetable kingdom is not in any way an 

 obstacle to this conception of a continuous nervous flux 

 throughout the whole organism, for if nervous phe- 

 nomena are less apparent in it than in the animal kingdom, 

 they constitute nevertheless just as in the latter the essence 

 of the vital phenomenon. 



From amoeboid movements, from the vibrations of 

 cilia and flagella up to the most complex psychic phe- 

 nomena, everywhere where life is, one finds also processes 

 of nervous nature. The reticular or fibrillar structure 

 which protoplasm in general exhibits, protoplasmic 

 currents, especially those in very long, fine filaments, 

 such as for example those in the pseudopodia of the 

 rhizipod Gromia oviformis, which by their peculiar 

 character make one suspect that they may be only the 

 consequence and sensible effect of currents provoked by 

 an energy of another kind, the striations consisting of 

 bundles of curved parallel lines without sharp angles in 



"Oscar Hertwig: Die Zelle und die Gewebe. Zw. Buch. P. 40. 



