No. 529] 



RESPONSE 



13 



:;!<•>! » I icric constituents, to unusual compounds and unac- 

 customed food-material, make up an important propor- 

 tion of the sum total of information ordinarily classified 

 as physiology. The morphogenic and accommodative 

 adjustments presented afford by analysis the best con- 

 ceptions available as to the nature of the physiologic 

 activity of organisms. 



The experimental results of Stockard with fish eggs 

 subjected to the action of various chemical substances 

 are of unusual interest in the present connection. The 

 cyclopean embryos of Fuiidulus formed in sea-water con- 

 taining magnesium salts offer the first known example 

 of the induction of an abnormality in the vertebrates 

 occurring in nature, by specific reagents. Suggestion of 

 a common cause is obvious as it is in the instances in 

 which similar divergences have been secured in the labo- 

 ratory with plants. As will be pointed out later, such 

 analytical tests constitute a very important part of the 

 procedure in the study of acclimatization results. 4 



In very few cases, however, has the permanency or 

 heritability of the deviations induced been tested, and in 

 most of such tests the agencies employed might haV^ 

 acted upon both soma and germ-plasm, as will be ap- 

 parent upon an examination of the work of Standfuss, 

 Fischer, Pictet and Houssey. The work of these older 

 experimenters has been reviewed so many times that it 

 will be unnecessary to discuss their results further in the 

 present paper. This was done at the Darwin memorial 

 meeting in 1908, and quite recently by Bourne in his ad- 

 dress before Section of Zoology of the British Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, at the Sheffield 

 meeting. 5 



The present opportunity may well be used to make a 

 presentation of the results of the last few years obtained 



The Cyclopean 

 1909. 



ially Produced Fis 

 Vol. 7, ^o. 2, p. 



