Hi BEREDITY AND SEX 



are called the males, or sperm-producing colonies. The 

 other colonics specialize to produce larger germ-cells — 

 the eggs. These colonies are called females or egg-pro- 

 ducing colonics. Sex has appeared in the living world. 



To-day we are only beginning to appreciate the far- 

 reaching significance of this separation into the immor- 

 tal germ-cells and the mortal body, for there emerges 

 the possibility of endless relations between the body on 

 the one hand and the germ-cells on the other. What- 

 ever the body shows in the way of new characters 

 or new ways of reacting must somehow be represented 

 in the germ-cells if such characters are to be perpetu- 

 ated. The germ-cells show no visible modification to 

 represent their potential characters. Hence the classi- 

 cal conundrum-- whether the hen appeared before the 

 egg, or the egg before the hen? Modern biology has 

 answered the question with some assurance. The egg 

 came first, the hen afterwards, we answer dogmati- 

 cally, because we can understand how any change in 

 the egg will show itself in the next generation — in 

 the new hen, for instance; but despite a vast amount 

 of arguing no one has shown how a new hen could get 

 her newness into the old-fashioned eggs. 



Few biological questions have been more combated 

 ihan this attempt to isolate the germ-tract from the 

 influence of the body. Nussbaum was amongst the 

 first, if not the first, to draw attention to this distinc- 

 tion, bul the credit of 'pointing out its importance is 

 generally given to Weismann, whose fascinating specu- 

 lations start from this idea. For Weismann, the germ- 

 cella are immortal- -the soma alone has the stigma of 

 death upon it. Each generation hands to the next 



