EDMUND MONTGOMERY-ORGANIC REPRODUCTION. 
9 
very transparent Epistylis, as minutely described in the Jenaische Zeit- 
schrift fur Naturwissenschaft, 1883. 
This incontestable state of things disposes irretrievably of the germ- 
plasm theory by depriving it of its foundation. But my object here is 
to show the utter untenability of all molecular theories of reproduction; 
of all such theories as attempt to build up the complex organism by 
means of hypothetical molecules, conceived as separate, multiplying vital 
units. I will, therefore, taking Weismann’s own assumptions for granted, 
try to expose in detail and in final outcome the fatal fallacies intrinsically 
involved in his array and marshalling of such separate molecules; and I 
will seek to render apparent the impossibility of the evolutional and or¬ 
ganizing feats imagined to be performed by his Btophores, Determinants, 
Ids, and Idants. 
If it turned out to be an insoluble puzzle how to collect into the gen¬ 
eral receptacle of the germ-cell representative elements of all the diversely 
autonomous cell-constituents of the complex organism; the puzzle now 
before us is how to evolve all these disparate autonomous cell-beings by 
dint of efficiencies constitutionally inhering in the nuclear germ-plasm. 
Nothing easier, provided our biological knowledge be sufficiently ex¬ 
tensive to allow us to bear in mind all the ascertained facts to which our 
theory is to be fitted. If, for instance, we desire a man to be evolved, 
we simply construct in imagination an ultra-microscopic homunculus out 
of hypothetical vital units, assert that this homunculus is actually present 
in the chromosomes of a human ovum; and then, by means of molecular 
groupings, divisions and multiplications of whatever kind the explana¬ 
tion of the actual facts calls for, we evolve the visibly complex organism 
of the adult being. 
Weismann’s Ids are in truth the organism minimized in all its details. 
His Determinants are imaginary embodiments of metaphysical ability be¬ 
lieved to impart to each cell its peculiar characteristics. His Biophores 
are hypothetically individuated vital material out of whose multiplica¬ 
tions and groupings the complex organism is constructed. 
Weismann furnishes thus his germ-plasm beforehand with all necessary 
constituents, and endows these with all necessary qualifications, enabling 
them to accomplish what they are designed for. The scientific value of 
the theory is solely derived from the once seemingly valid conclusion, 
that the chromatic substance of the nucleus is actually the bearer of all 
reproductive properties. 
If such were really the case the tenets of the germ-plasm theory would 
be logically necessiated by it. And in this light it was an eminently ap¬ 
propriate scientific task to seek to discover what theoretical assumptions 
were required in order to formulate an explanation of reproduction 
under these given conditions. But, even had the initiative influence of 
