November 6, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



659 



reactions are set up wHicli are manifested espe- 

 cially in histological developments that ulti- 

 mately characterize the fully developed ovule, 

 at which time a state of physico-chemical 

 equilibrium' is established, as is evident by the 

 arrested developmental activities. This state 

 of physico-chemical equilibrium of the ma- 

 tured ovule may be instantly changed to one 

 leading to serial definitely predetermined re- 

 actions by means of an activating substance or 

 condition, such as certain ions or inorganic 

 salts, a spermatozoon, or a needle prick, by 

 initiating the first step of the reactions, the 

 nature of the succeeding reactions being pre- 

 determined primarily by the inherent nature 

 of the physico-chemical system and secondarily 

 by the factor that activates it. In other 

 words, from this initial stereochemic system 

 there arises a complex heterogeneous system 

 that ultimately is morphologically expressed 

 in the histology of the matured ovule and 

 from which are formed a composite of cor- 

 related, independent, interdependent and differ- 

 entiated masses which represent different 

 phases of the components of the initial system 

 which hare been modified not only physico- 

 chemically as expressed by changes in phys- 

 ical, mechanical and chemical properties, but 

 also in developmental energies; and from this 

 composite are developed successively other 

 systems. 



Owingf to the great impressionability and 

 plasticity of such an exceedingly complex 

 stereochemic system as the germplasm, it fol- 

 lows that the germplasm must be extremely 

 sensitive to changes in internal and external 

 conditions, and that its operations and prod- 

 ucts may be so materially modified by changes 

 in its molecular arrangements or components 

 as to give rise to variables that are manifested 

 in the transmutability of sex, variations, 

 fluctuations, mutations, deformities, retrogres- 

 sions, tumor formation, immunities, etc. 



Assuming in accordance with our concep- 

 tion that the germplasm is in its incipiency 

 an unequilibrated stereochemic system that 

 is characteristic of the inherent, fundamental 

 stereochemic system of the parent, it follows, 

 as a corollary that, having a highly special- 



ized form of parental structural material with 

 peculiar energy-properties, the offspring must 

 of necessity possess essentially the same funda- 

 mental characteristics as the parents when 

 normal fecundation has occurred, and that it 

 would be quite as impossible to have any other 

 result than in ordinary chemical reactions 

 under given conditions of experiment. The 

 essential characters of the building material 

 as regards substances, arrangements and 

 energy-properties are definitely fixed within 

 narrow limits of variation. 



That the peculiar forms of stereoisomerides 

 or intimately related bodies that are inherent 

 in the parent are conveyed in the germplasm 

 to the offspring, and hence of necessity serve 

 to distinguish a given form of germplasm 

 from that of any other species or genus, and 

 that the stereochemic conception of the nature 

 of the germplasm is capable of laboratory 

 demonstration, are instanced in the results of 

 the investigations of Kossell and his students 

 who found that simple forms of protein, known 

 as protamins, obtained from the spermatozoa 

 of different species of fish are different, each 

 being apparently of a form peculiar to the 

 source. Here is one substance at least that 

 seems to be in specific stereoisomeric forms in 

 the sperm of different species, which obviously 

 must affect the properties of the germplasm, 

 and which when brought in contact with the 

 germplasm of the egg play its part in deter- 

 mining the phenomena of development. More- 

 over, by the " precipitin reaction " method 

 Blakeslee and Gortner have found evidence 

 that is consistent with the conclusion that 

 there are not only " species proteins " but also 

 " sex proteins," and this receives support in a 

 number of very recent investigations, espe- 

 cially those of Steinaeh, who found that the 

 corresponding hormones secreted by the ovaries 

 and testicles are different, and that by virtue 

 of these differences the secondary sexual char- 

 acters, female and male, are determined. Thus 

 he found in castrated young males, in which 

 transplantation of ovaries had been practised, 

 that the development of masculine peculiar- 

 ities is inhibited and female traits substituted, 

 so that the individuals tend to assume the 



