620 STUDIES IN GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY 
Vv. SOME REMARKS CONCERNING THE NATURE OF THE PROCESS 
OF FERTILIZATION 
The facts of the preceding section force us to transfer the 
problem of fertilization from the realm of morphology into 
that of physical chemistry. There is certainly no reason 
left for defining the process of fertilization as a morphological 
process. The morphology of the spermatozoon itself becomes 
of secondary importance as far as the process of fertilization 
is concerned. 
The spermatozoon not only starts the development of non- 
parthenogenetic eggs, but it is also the bearer of the heredi- 
tary qualities of the male. From our experiments it becomes 
evident that these two functions of the spermatozoon are 
not necessarily bound together, for nobody would assume for 
an instant that the hereditary qualities that are carried by 
the spermatozoon could be imparted to the egg by a change 
in the inorganic constituents of the sea-water. We have 
learned to attribute the different activities of a cell to 
different enzymes. We must in future consider the possible 
or probable separation of the fertilizing qualities of the 
spermatozoon from the transmission of hereditary qualities 
through the same.’ 
The plutei produced from the unfertilized egg resemble 
closely in every regard those produced from the fertilized 
egg. The latter in many cases live longer than the former, 
but even this was not so in every case, and it is not impos- 
sible that in further experiments parthenogenetic plutei with 
a greater duration of life will be produced. The only 
difference between parthenogenetic and normal blastule is 
that the latter rise to the surface of the water, while the 
former do not. One might think that this was due to the 
influence of the MgCl, solution on the egg. This is, how- 
ever, not the case. Eggs that had been in such a solution 
1 Logs, Biological Lectures, Woods Hole, 1899, Ginn & Co., Boston. 
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