260 



PlllLOSOrillCAL NOTICS ON 



loiiStb of u wire stretclied across the bottom of the Atlantic I and 

 this, too, without the aid of nerves. AVhat is to prevent influences 

 passing from the outside of the l)ody to the sperm and germ cells, 

 and what is to prevent the influence of the body being communi- 

 cated to those cells ? Have we not heard, over and over again, 

 that the universal ether pervades everything, and that even one set 

 of nerve cells can send a message to another set of nerve cells at a 

 distance ? And have we not also heard that the nerve-cell, which 

 is the seat of all nerve energy, is itself only a minute bit of 

 protoplasm enclosing a nucleus ? Have we not also heard that 

 carnivorous plants can transmit impressions and cause movements 

 at a distance, without there being any trace of so-called nerves ? * 



The Embryo. 

 In comparing the termiucil bud of Euonymus japonicus 

 (Fig. 96) with the embryo of the wheat - seed (Fig. 97), as 



Fig. 96. Longl. sect, of terminal bud of Erionyvms japonicus : (a) outer 

 bud-scales, (6) inner bud-scales, (c) growing point, (d, d) axillary buds. 



* On one occasion I witnessed the migration of that curious caterpillar 

 which travels in single file, Avith the head of one touching the tail of the other. 

 While the column is in progress the removal of the last one causes the whole 

 column to stop. It is evident that a telegraphic message is sent through a 

 dozen caterpillars to the foremost leader, although there is no nei-vous com- 

 vinnication right through the column. I think that biologists may sometimes 

 forget that there is such an agent in nature as electricity, and that it may 

 have a great deal to do with modifications in living things. 



