246 THE EVOLUTION OF CONTINUITY 



upsetter. Certainly, in the classic experiments of Loeb 

 this was apparently the case. 



Loeb found that solely by pricking with a very fine 

 needle the unfertilised ovum of the frog he could make 

 development start and proceed in an apparently natural 

 manner. The unfertilised ova of the sea-urchin can also 

 be made to develop by exposing them to the action of 

 chemical solutions. As in both cases the development of 

 a true sexual element occurs, in our view this is not par- 

 thenogenesis ; but apart from this it is justifiable to say 

 that in neither case was there unaided development. We 

 might well say that the matter was one of " non-specific 

 fertilisation." 



The needle enters the ovum and withdraws ; it leaves 

 none of its substance in the ovum, but it does something, 

 and the presumption is that the results which follow are 

 due to the physical effects of the puncture. The main 

 effect is the breach of Continuity, and it seems possible 

 that, in accordance with the general rule, the breaking of 

 Continuity by causing release from Arrest is responsible 

 for the unexpected development of the ovum. 



The reactions of the growth-cycle have terminated in 

 the ovum which is in a state of arrest in that it is in 

 equilibrium. Repulsion, the force causing and sustaining 

 disequilibrium, is not active in it. And on the theory that 

 the immediate result of normal fertilisation is the loss of 

 sexual-element " identity " or internal " plan," we believe 

 that ensuing development is due to the shattering of this 

 " plan " and the production of disequilibrium, through 

 active force of Repulsion. There is, we might say, living 

 chaos followed by creation, all subsequent growth being for 

 the reproduction of the lost " plans " and lost specific 

 equilibrium. 



It is conceivable that the breach of Continuity effected 

 by the needle in the frog experiment is just an abnormal 

 way of producing the results of fertilisation, and that in 

 the same way may be explained the action of chemicals 

 on the egg of the sea-urchin. The resulting Individual is 

 clearly abnormal, and it is difficult to understand how it 

 could show any except female sex, for no true male element 

 has been concerned in the fertilisation. Certain recent 



