34 GENETICS 



Montgomery has suggested that the chromosomes 

 themselves may be masses of enzymes although, ac- 

 cording to the chemist, enzymes are not morpho- 

 logical entities, since they seem to be able to flourish 

 and- maintain their identity while bringing about 

 chemical reactions in their neighborhood without 

 being visibly demonstrable. 



As said before, it is quite likely that in the final 

 analysis heredity will be reduced to a series of chemi- 

 cal reactions dependent upon the manner in "which 

 various enzymes initiate, retard, or accelerate suc- 

 cessive chemical combinations occurring in the pro- 

 toplasm. When the same enzymes act upon the 

 same chemical combinations in successive genera- 

 tions, they bring about that "organic resemblance" 

 known as heredity. 



E. B. Wilson, whose brilliant work in the entire 

 field of cell activity makes it possible for him to 

 speak with authority, has recently said : "The es- 

 sential conclusion that is indicated by cytological 

 study of the nuclear substance is, that it is an ag- 

 gregate of many different chemical components 

 which do not constitute a mere mechanical mixture, 

 but a complex organic system and which undergo 

 perfectly ordered processes of segregation and dis- 

 tribution in the cycle of cell life. That these sub- 

 stances play some definite role in determination is 

 not mere assumption, but a conclusion based upon 

 direct cytological experiment and one that finds 

 support in the results of modern chemical research. 5 * 





