LUTHER BURBANK 



molecules making up the germinal protoplasm 

 may undergo a gradual process of decay or disin- 

 tegration through the throwing out of some of 

 their atoms, somewhat as radium and its allied 

 substances are disintegrated. This of course is a 

 pure assumption, yet it is not altogether without 

 plausibility. 



But whatever the precise manner in which the 

 degeneration of the germinal plasm is brought 

 about, the suggestion that one portion of its struc- 

 ture may be affected more than another raises a 

 question as to whether, conceivably, such a deteri- 

 oration of the germ plasm within a seed, in an 

 exceptional instance where a seed is stored for a 

 number of years before being placed under condi- 

 tions proper for its germination, might not result 

 in the production of a deformed or modified plant. 



Whatever differences of opinion may be held 

 among biologists as to the possible transmission 

 of modifications of the body plasm, all are agreed 

 that modifications of the germ plasm become a 

 permanent heritage and are passed on to the off- 

 spring. So it seems at least a possibility that we 

 have presented, in the deterioration of the germ 

 plasm within the seed, an explanation of the 

 appearance of mutants or sports that may become 

 the progenitors of new races. 



Attempts to produce mutants by treating the 



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