LUTHER BURBANK 



That the multitudes of hereditary factors that 

 exist in the germ plasm of so complex an organism 

 as a flowering plant should be grouped in each 

 successive bulb that develops as an offshoot of the 

 original bulb of that plant in precisely the same 

 combination, pre-determining the production of a 

 future plant identical with the original, is a fact 

 that becomes increasingly mysterious the more 

 carefully we consider it. 



In particular, the mystery is great if we have 

 kept in touch with modern ideas as to the segrega- 

 tion of the germ plasm and the body plasm of the 

 living organism. There is a current notion, sup- 

 ported by high scientific authority, that the very 

 earliest division of a fertilized egg cell, in the case 

 of an animal or plant, results in the separation of 

 the infinitesimal fleck of protoplasm into two dif- 

 ferent parts tha't are fundamentally different, one 

 carrying the body plasm from which the structure 

 of the new individual is to grow, and the other 

 carrying the germ plasm that is to convey the 

 potentialities of future offspring. 



New studies in the biological laboratory have 

 shown that this idea, that the first division of the 

 egg cell results in such a segregation of body 

 plasm and germ plasm, cannot be fully accepted. 

 Nevertheless it is obvious that in the case of all 

 higher organisms, whether vegetable or animal, 



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