CONFORMITY TO TYPE 237 



"The apparatus for cell-division is only of secondary importance 

 in the process; its chief part, the centr some, like the hereditary 

 substance, is derived from the parental germ cell or cells, but only 

 constitutes the mechanism for the division of the nucleus and cell 

 and contains no 'primary constituents/ The rate of cell-divisions 

 cannot, moreover, be determined by the centrosome, although it 

 produces the primary stimulus; the apparatus for division is set 

 in motion by the cell, which is controlled by the idioplasm. Were 

 this not the case, the nuclear matter could not be the hereditary 

 substance, for most of the hereditary characters of a species are due 

 in a less degree to the differentiation of individual cells than to the 

 number and grouping of the cells of which a certain organ or 

 entire part of the body consists; these, however, again depend on 

 the mode and rate of cell-division. 



"The processes occurring in the idioplasm which direct the 

 development of the organism from the ovum or, to speak in more 

 general terms, from one cell, the germ cell do not in themselves 

 furnish an explanation of a series of phenomena which are in part 

 directly connected with the autogeny, or else result from it sooner 

 or later; the phenomena of regeneration, gemmation, and fission, 

 and the formation of new germ cells, all require special supple- 

 mentary hypotheses. 



"The simplest cases of regeneration are due to the fully formed 

 tissue, consisting of similar cells, always containing a reserve of 

 young cells, which are capable of replacing a normal or abnormal 

 loss. This is, however, insufficient in the more complex cases, 

 in which entire parts of the body, such as the tail or limbs, are 

 regenerated when they have been forcibly removed. We must 

 here assume that the cells of the parts which are qapable of 

 regeneration contain * supplementary determinants' in addition 

 to those which control them, and that these are the primary 

 constituents of the parts which are formed anew in the process 

 of regeneration. They are supplied to certain parts of the body 

 at an earlier autogenetic stage in the form of 'inactive accessory 

 idioplasm/ and only become active when the opposition to growth 

 has oeen removed in consequence of the loss of the part in question. 

 The equipment of a cell of any part with supplementary determin- 

 ants presupposes a greater complexity in their distribution, in 

 correspondence with the greater complexity in structure of the 

 part; and thus the capacity for regeneration is limited, for a part 

 can na longer be provided with an apparatus for regeneration 

 when its structure is too complicated. The ordinary assumption 

 that the regenerative 'force' decreases as the complexity in 

 structure increases is therefore to a certain extent true, but not 

 if it implies the existence of a special force which provides for 

 regeneration and which always diminishes in correspondence 

 with the degree of organization. 



"Reproduction by fission is closely connected with regeneration; 

 it presupposes the existence of a similar apparatus in the idioplasm, 

 which, however, has in most cases reached a higher stage of 

 development: fission must have arisen phyletically from regener- 

 ation. 



