178 An Examination of Weismannism. 



soma and its germ-cells as there is, for example, between 

 the mammalian soma and these same cells when afterwards 

 detached from the ovary and developing as foetuses in 

 utero. In other words, the only connexion is supposed 

 10 be that of deriving nourishment by way of imbibition. 

 But, as regards the germ-cell while still forming in the 

 ovary or testicle, there is for this supposition no basis in 

 fact. There is nothing in the histology of spermatogenesis 

 that lends countenance to the supposition, while in the case 

 of the ovum such histological evidence as we possess makes 

 altogether against it. As Professor Vines has remarked : — 



It cannot be seriously maintained that the whole body of the 

 embryo is developed solely from the germ-plasm of the ovum. 

 On the contrary, since the embryo is developed from the whole 

 of the nucleus and more or less of the cytoplasm of the ovum, 

 it must be admitted that the non-germ-plasm of the ovum 

 provides a large part of the material in embryogeny. It is an 

 obvious inference that, under these circumstances, hereditary 

 characters may be transmitted from the parent to the offspring, 

 not only by the germ-plasm, but also by the somato-plasm, of the 

 ovum \ 



Again, and apart from this consideration, it is now 

 known that a very intimate network of protoplasmic fibres 

 connects the cell-contents of cellular tissues, both in plants 

 and animals. So that here we have another very possible 

 means of communication between the germ-cells and the 

 somatic-cells which together constitute a multicellular 

 organism. 



Therefore, in so far as histology can be trusted to 

 constitute a basis for generalizations of this kind at all, it 

 does not sustain the supposition that there can be no 

 medium of communication between the general cellular 



1 Nature, vol. xl. p. 624. "Weismann's answer to this and other parts 

 of Professor Vines' criticism where the term "somato-plasm" occurs, will 

 be considered later on. 



