550 W. D. Lang — Bernarcrs Biological Theories of Fossils. 



to nothing. Now in the course of ages they have once again emerged 

 by the removal of the loose material around them, and they rise 

 to the 6,000 feet level and must by their attraction cause the sea to 

 heap up in their neighbourhood. As a matter of fact, it is probable 

 that the sea-level is higher around Cape Town with its backing 

 of great mountain ranges than it is at East London, where there 

 is merely a stepped plain presented to the sea. 



III. — Paleontology and Bernard's I^iological Thkoriks. 



By W. D. Lang, M.A., F.Z.S. 



I. 



PALEONTOLOGY is the biology of fossils. The palteontologist, 

 tlierefore, is bound to consider modern biological views in order 

 that he may test them in the light of his science. It is intended 

 here to apply to one class of fossils the fundamental principles upheld 

 in a remarkable work by the late H. M. Bernard, entitled Some 

 Neglected Factors in Erolution, ^ really two books under one cover, 

 the first dealing with the ultimate structure of protoplasm and the 

 second with a method of organic evolution. The principles underlying 

 the first suggest the methods of the second ; so that in approaching 

 the second a thorough knowledge of the first is needful. Before 

 applying it let us examine the theory itself. 



Hitherto, says Bernard, the morphological aspect of biology has 

 -been dominated by the idea that all organisms are either cells or 

 cell-aggregates. The cell has been regarded as the unit of all higher 

 structures, and, although in its turn the cell is variously composed of 

 simpler factors (cytoplasm, nucleus, chromosomes, etc.), these have 

 never been, in fact obviously cannot be, regarded as homogeneous 

 units, building up the cell in the same manner as the cell builds up 

 a tissue and, finally, a whole organism. Now this cell-doctrine is far 

 too rigid to explain many well-known morphological phenomena, and 

 to do so in terms of the doctrine involves extending the definition of 

 a cell beyond convenience ; and the idea of a cell has consequently 

 obscured the significance of what has been observed. Some authorities, 

 it is true, have refused to wear the blinkers of the cell-doctrine, and, 

 though they have seen further in consequence of their action, they 

 have not co-ordinated their observations by any theory transcending 

 that based on the cell. 



Bernard's theory demands that the cell shall be itself an aggregate 

 composed of homogeneous units. In order to discover these units it 

 is necessary to determine what morphological factors invariably are 

 present in protoplasm. These are found to be three : a deeply 

 staining factor bearing chromatin and occurring in minute bodies — 

 chroniidia, fibrous filaments composed of linin, and a pervading liquid 

 matrix. The simplest imaginable connected and symmetrical 

 grouping of these factors has the form of a three- dimensioned linin 

 network with the chromidia at the nodes and the whole bathed in 



^ Some Neglected Factors in Evolution, an Essay in Constructive Biology, 

 by Henry M. Bernard, M.A. Cantab., F.Z.S. , ed. by Matilda Bernard. 8vo ; 

 pp. xxii -|- 490, text-illustrations. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and 

 London, 1911. 



