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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST 



[Vol. L 



the various forms and types of organisms in my evolu- 

 tionary series, namely, the simple cell or protocyte, the 

 cytode or pseudomoneral stage, the micrococcus, even the 

 biococcus, are founded on concrete evidence and can be re- 

 garded as types actually existent in the present or past. 

 On the other hand the role assigned by me to each type in 

 the pageant of evolution is naturally open to dispute. For 

 example, I agree with those who derive the Bacteria as 

 primitive, truly non-cellular organisms, directly from the 

 biococcus through an ancestral form, and not at all with 

 those who would regard the Bacteria as degenerate or 

 highly-specialized cells. But the crux of my scheme is the 

 homology postulated between the biococcus and the chro- 

 matinic particle— chromidiosome or chromiole— of true 

 cells. In support of this view, of which I am not the orig- 

 inator, I have set forth the reasons which have convinced 

 me that the extraordinary powers and activities exhibited 

 by the chromatin in ordinary cells are such as can only be 

 explained on the hypothesis that the ultimate chromatinic 

 units are to be regarded as independent living beings, as 

 much so as the cells composing the bodies of multicellular 

 organisms ; and, so far as I am concerned, I must leave the 

 matter to the judgment of my fellow-biologists. 



I may point out in conclusion that general discussions 

 of this kind may be useful in other ways than as attempts 

 to discover truth or as a striving towards a verity which 

 is indefinable and perhaps unattainable. Even if my 

 scheme of evolution be but a midsummer-night's fantasy, 

 I claim for it that it coordinates a number of isolated and 

 scattered phenomena into an orderly, and, I think, intel- 

 ligible sequence, and exhibits them in a relationship which 

 at least enables the mind to obtain a perspective and com- 

 prehensive view of them. Rival theories will be more, or 

 less, useful than mine, according as they succeed in corre- 

 lating more, or fewer, of the accumulated data of experi- 

 ence. If in this address I succeed in arousing interest 

 and reflection, and in stimulating inquiry and controversy, 

 it will have fulfilled its purpose. 



