THE GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE OF AMPHIMIXIS .217 



ribbon-like, rapidly acting muscular axis ; or the regular geometrically 

 constructed flinty skeleton of the Radiolarians, with their radially 

 disposed sword-like or rod-like needles and their complex interlacing 

 lattice -work shells. In the latter case the complexity of* tlie living 

 sul)stance becomes visible only through its product, the shell, for the 

 protoplasm itself does not show any visible intricacy, and tlie same is 

 true of the Coccidium whose life-history we have just been tracino-, 

 for in each of its stages it seems to be of very simple organization, 

 though the succession of numerous different forms shows that its 

 germ-substance must be composed of numerous determinants. 



We cannot doubt, however, that, in all unicellular organisms, 

 the protoplasm can Ije hardly less complicated as regards its minute 

 invisible structure, since otherwise it would be impossible that the 

 delicate vital processes wliich we observe in them should run their 

 course. In this I agree, at least in principle, with the beautiful 

 picture drawn by Ludwig Zehnder in his recent book ^ already 

 mentioned, though he reached it in quite a different wa}^ namely, by 

 a purely synthetic method. He made the daring attempt to l)uild up 

 the organic world from below, starting from atoms and molecules, 

 and ascending from these to the lowest vital units, our biophors, 

 to which he attributes a tubular shape and therefore calls fistellae. 

 He imagines the cell to be made up of a large number, perhaps millions, 

 of different kinds of fistelhie, of which one presides over the power of 

 turgidity, another over endosmosis, a third over contraction, a fourth 

 over the conduction of stimuli, &c., so that there results a high degree 

 of cellular complexity, a composition out of numerous kinds of 

 ])iophors arranged on a definite architectural plan. All this corre- 

 sponds perfectly with the views I have so long championed, and 

 which alone make the existence of a nucleus intelligible, if it is com- 

 posed — as I assume — essentially of an accumulation of determinants, 

 that is, of hereditary substances. And that such a high degree of 

 complexity of structure is not a mere fanciful picture we see 

 occasionally even in the case of unicellular organisms. Thus, for 

 instance, in Coccidium /^roprium, parasitic in tlie newt {Trlto^t), the 

 macrogamete or egg-cell (Fig. 123, 3Icc) before fertilization by the, 

 sperm-cell or microgamete (Fig. 123, Mi) surrounds itself with a cap- 

 sule, at one pole of which a minute opening, the micropyle, remains 

 for the entrance of the male cell. This proves, it seems to me, that 

 this particular spot of the capsule is hereditcirily determined, just as 

 much and just as definitely as the ray of the flint-skeleton of a Radio- 

 larian. But if any spot of the capsule can vary by itself alone, may 

 ^ Zehnder, Die Entstelnmg des Lebens, Freiburg-i.-Br.. 1899. 



