November 7, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



667 



from these lapses the author shows strength, 

 vigor and clearness in his method, and how- 

 ever much one may differ from him regard- 

 ing facts or theories there can be no denial 

 of the individuality or consistency of his 

 views. 



Among the diversity of subjects consid- 

 ered certain themes stand out because of em- 

 phasis and repetition. Briefly these may be 

 stated as follows : Sexual reproduction is a 

 process for securing rejuvenescence; fertiliza- 

 tion effects a cellular reorganization by bring- 

 ing nuclear material into new cytoplasmic 

 surroundings; reduction is a process to check 

 the indefinite multiplication of chromosomes 

 whose important constituent, the linin, is me- 

 chanically divided by the splitting of the 

 chromatin granules; cell division is due to a 

 " new force, mitokinetism," confined to living 

 matter ; heredity is not to be explained through 

 the action of any germ plasm, but " can only 

 be elucidated by the light of mental, not ma- 

 terial processes " ; acquired characters are in- 

 herited; such collateral inheritance receives an 

 explanation through the operation of " uncon- 

 scious memory " according to the theories of 

 Hering and Butler; chemical and physical 

 laws are not sufficient to account for the ac- 

 tivities of organisms and we must assume a 

 " vital behavior." 



From all of which it is easily seen that Pro- 

 fessor Hartog may be classed, philosophically, 

 as a vitalistic Lamarckian. While he strikes 

 vigorous blows in defense of his faith, it must 

 be admitted that he brings little that is new or 

 convincing in proof. It seems impossible not 

 to believe that the reproductive elements are 

 in some way and to some degree affected by 

 conditions external to them, but it brings 

 slight comfort and mental satisfaction to have 

 offered as proof of such a fundamentally im- 

 portant principle the case of two normal chil- 

 dren who are supposed to inherit a peculiar 

 habit of writing because a myopic-astigmatic 

 father has developed this as a result of his de- 

 fective sight. Although the children fail to 

 inherit the structural defect, and the father 

 under corrected vision spontaneously loses the 

 habit at the age of fifteen, they are reported to 



have it so firmly engrafted upon them as to 

 make its eradication almost impossible. While 

 the writer considers Lankester's logical 

 presumption against the sudden fixation of 

 slight influences through the soma upon the 

 germ cells — -in the face of a long adverse phy- 

 logenetic history, he does not make a satis- 

 factory answer to it. Much more probable 

 seems the gradual, cumulative effect of a per- 

 sistent, long-continued influence upon succes- 

 sive generations which finally is able to over- 

 balance the weight of the racial inertia. This 

 would seem to account for the universal fail- 

 ure of experimental proof in support of the 

 theory of inheritance of acquired characters — 

 a theory which seems to be logically correct 

 and which makes such a strong appeal to those 

 who study extensive racial histories. 



More scientific is the author's treatment of 

 the problems of maturation and fertilization, 

 although to many there will occur objections 

 that weigh strongly against some of his con- 

 clusions. Why so general and apparently im- 

 portant a process as the reduction division 

 should have become established merely to pre- 

 vent indefinite multiplication of the chromo- 

 somes does not receive adequate explanation. 

 Likewise there is no convincing evidence for 

 the conclusion that the linin is the important 

 part of the nuclear substance, for which the 

 chromatin plays merely the mechanical role of 

 a dividing agent. Surely Professor Hartog 

 can not have made a careful study of the nu- 

 cleus during the long and significant growth 

 period preceding the first maturation divi- 

 sion or he would not say (p. 138) " what- 

 ever be the function of the chromatin in the 

 ' working ' cell, as we may term it, it is evi- 

 dently less important than its function in the 

 dividing cell." 



The striking character of the fully estab- 

 lished mitotic figure evidently makes a strong 

 appeal to the author, for besides the conclu- 

 sion just quoted he is led, from the conditions 

 of the bipolar figure, to postulate an entirely 

 new force, mitokinetism, to account for cell 

 division. The whole argument for the new 

 force is based upon the bipolar spindle, yet 

 nothing is more evident than the fact that this 



