EDMUND MONTGOMERY-ORGANIC REPRODUCTION. 
11 
ishing influence is exerted. We desire to know liow Determinants man¬ 
age to determine. To be told that the cellular plasm is to them what 
clay is to the potter, is hardly satisfactory. Arrived by devious and 
miraculous ways at their proper local destination, the bond which con¬ 
stituted the Determinant a special entity suddenly snaps, and its constit¬ 
uent Biopliores disperse among the Biophores of the cellular plasm. And 
now, it may be asked, how does this minimal number of germ-plasm 
Biophores diffused among the vastly larger swarm of cellular Biophores 
succeed in imposing their specific characteristics upon them ? Nothing 
but nutritive influences can possibly and avowedly enter the otherwise 
firmly occluded Biophores. The problem, therefore, resolves itself into 
the simple practical question as to which kind of Biophores will eat the 
other up. And it stands to reason, if any nutritive action is here to take 
place, that the greater number are likely to conquer, and nothing will 
then be determined save the digestive process of the victors. 
Thus flimsy are these renowned molecular theories. 
But the germ-plasm theory breaks down, not only theoretically, but 
also in its application to some of the most significant biological facts. 
For instance, single cells of the leaves of begonia are known to reproduce 
the entire plant. Each such cell would consequently have to hold in re¬ 
serve an entire Id, consisting of all Determinants needed to impart to 
other cells during regeneration their distinguishing properties. An earth 
worm can be artificially divided anywhere throughout its entire length, 
and each section will regenerate the entire individual. This would 
necessitate, according to the germ-plasm theory, in the cells of each pos¬ 
sible section two sets of supplementary Determinants. In Hydra the case 
is still more complicated. Here three sets of supplementary or reserve 
Determinants are everywhere called for, one for oral, one for aboral, and 
one for lateral regeneration. 
Weismann, inspired by the supreme scientific importance of a correct 
interpretation of reproduction, is so completely absorbed in following up 
the explanatory exigencies of this theory, as not to perceive that such 
extremely fanciful demands upon it amount to its reductio ad absurdum. 
Finally, most fatal to all such molecular theories, is the invalidity, the 
utter sterility of the common device of smuggling, excessively minimized, 
all that has to be explained into hypothetical elements. A moment’s 
calm reflection renders it evident that the self-multiplication of the small¬ 
est conceivable vital unit presupposes already everything that reproduc¬ 
tion implies: assimilation of pabulum, growth and division, leaving thus 
the entire secret unsolved. 
I have dwelt at some length on the germ-plasm theory because its 
learned and ingenious author has taken all imaginable pains and used all 
