No. 542] SOME ASPECTS OF CYTOLOGY 



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in determination is not a mere assumption, but a conclu- 

 sion based upon direct cytologieal experiment, and one 

 that finds support in the results of modern chemical 

 research. Professor Kossel has recently said that every 

 peculiarity of the species and every occurrence affecting 

 the individual may be indicated by special combinations 

 of protein ' 1 Bausteine. ' ' The point of view that has here 

 been indicated is entirely in accordance with such a con- 

 ception. The results of cytological inquiry lit with the 

 view that there are many such combinations in both 

 nucleus and protoplasm; and the interest of cytological 

 study lies in the fact that we can in some degree follow 

 out their modes of segregation and distribution with the 

 microscope. We are still utterly ignorant as to how these 

 processes are determined ; and the more one studies them 

 the more one's wonder grows. I would certainly be one 

 of the last to disparage the brilliant results that have 

 been attained through the prolonged and patient labors 

 of cytological observation and experiment. They stand, 

 I believe, among the most interesting and valuable 

 achievements of modern biology. But these studies have 

 as yet made no approach to their limit, and a vast unex- 

 plored field still lies before us. We may as well recognize 

 the fact that our present rude notions of cell-organiza- 

 tion have not yet progressed very far beyond the paleo- 

 lithic stage of culture; but they are of use in so far as 

 they help to open new points of view or to discover new 

 facts, whether in cytologic or in genetic inquiry. It seems 

 to me that in both regards they have already proved 

 worth while. 



