Essays Upon Heredity and Kindred Biological Problems

As a result of my investigations on Hydroids137, I concluded that the germ-plasm is present in a very finely divided and therefore invisible state in certain somatic cells, from the very beginning of embryonic development, and that it is then transmitted through innumerable cell-generations, to those remote individuals of the colony in which sexual products are formed. This conclusion is based upon the fact that germ-cells only occur in certain localized areas (‘Keimstätten’) in which neither germ-cells nor primitive germ-cells (the cells which are transformed into germ-cells at a later period) were previously present. The primitive germ-cells are also only formed in localized areas, arising from somatic cells of the ectoderm. The place at which germ-cells arise is the same in all individuals of the same species; but differs in different species. It can be shown that such differences correspond to different phyletic stages of a process of displacement, which tends to remove the localized area from its original position (the manubrium of the Medusa) in a centripetal direction. For the purposes of the present enquiry it is unnecessary to discuss the reasons for this change of position. The phyletic displacements of the localized areas are brought about during ontogeny by an actual migration of primitive germ-cells from the place where they arose to the position at which they undergo differentiation into germ-cells. But we cannot believe that primitive germ-cells would migrate if the germ-cells could be formed from any of the other young cells of indifferent character which are so numerous in Hydroids. Even when the localized area undergoes very slight displacement, e.g. when it is removed from the exterior to the interior of the mesogloea138, the change is always effected by active migration of primitive germ-cells through the substance of the mesogloea. Although the localized area has been largely displaced in the course of phylogeny, the changes in position have always taken place by very gradual stages, and never suddenly, and all these stages are repeated in the ontogeny of all existing species, by the migration of the primitive germ-cells from the ancestral area to the place where the germ-cells now arise. Hartlaub139 has recently added a further instance (that of Obelia) to the numerous minute descriptions of these phyletic displacements of the localized area, and ontogenetic migrations of the primitive germ-cells, which are given in my work already referred to. The instance of Obelia is of especial interest as the direction of displacement is here reversed, taking place centrifugally instead of in a centripetal direction.

But if displacements of the localized areas can only take place by the frequently roundabout method of the migration of primitive germ-cells, we are obliged to conclude that such is the only manner in which the change can be effected, and that other cells are unable to play the role of the primitive germ-cells. And if other cells are unable to take this part, it must be because nucleoplasm of a certain character has to be present in order to form germ-cells, or according to the terms of my theory, the presence of germ-plasm is indispensable for this purpose. I do not see how we can escape the conclusion that there is continuity of the germ-plasm; for if it were supposed that somatic idioplasm undergoes transformation into germ-plasm, such an assumption would not explain why the displacement occurs by small stages, and with extreme and constant care for the preservation of a connexion with cells of the ancestral area. This fact can only be explained by the hypothesis that cell-generations other than those which end in the production of the cells of the ancestral area, are totally incapable of transformation into germ-cells.

Strasburger has objected that the transmission of germ-plasm along certain lines, viz. through a certain succession of somatic cells, is impossible, because the idioplasm is situated in the nucleus and not in the cell-body, and because a nucleus can only divide into two exactly equal halves by the indirect method of division, which takes place, as we must believe, in these cases. ‘It might indeed be supposed,’ says Strasburger, ‘that during nuclear division certain molecular groups remain unchanged in the nuclear substance which is in other respects transformed, and that these groups are uniformly distributed through the whole organism; but we cannot imagine that their transmission could only be effected along certain lines.’

I do not think that Strasburger’s objections can be maintained. I base this opinion on my previous criticism upon the assumed equality of the two daughter-nuclei formed by indirect division. I do not see any reason why the two halves must always possess the same structure, although they may be of equal size and weight. I am surprised that Strasburger should admit the possibility that the germ-plasm, which, as I think, is mixed with the idioplasm of the somatic cells, may remain unchanged in its passage through the body; for if this writer be correct in maintaining that the changes of nuclear substance in ontogeny are effected by the nutritive influence of the cell-body (cytoplasm), it follows that the whole nuclear substance of a cell must be changed at every division, and that no unchanged part can remain. We can only imagine that one part of a nucleus may undergo change while the other part remains unchanged, if we hold that the necessary transformations of nuclear substance are effected, by purely internal causes, viz. that they follow from the constitution of the nucleoplasm. But that one part may remain unchanged, and that such persistence does, as a matter of fact, occur is shown by the cases above described, in which the germ-cells separate very early from the developing egg-cell. Thus in the egg of Diptera, the two nuclei which are first separated by division from the segmentation nucleus, form the sexual cells, and this proves that they receive the germ-plasm of the segmentation nucleus unchanged. But during or before the separation of these two nuclei, the remaining part of the segmentation nucleus must have become changed in nature, or else it would continue to form ‘pole-cells’ at a later period instead of forming somatic cells. Although in many cases the cell-bodies of such early embryonic cells fail to exhibit any visible differences, the idioplasm of their nuclei must undoubtedly differ, or else they could not develope in different directions. It seems to me not only possible, but in every way probable, that the bodies of such early embryonic cells are equal in reality as well as in appearance; for, although the idioplasm of the nucleus determines the character of the cell-body, and although every differentiation of the latter depends upon a certain structure of its nucleoplasm, it does not necessarily follow that the converse proposition is true, viz. that each change in the structure of the nucleoplasm must effect a change in the cell-body. Just as rain is impossible without clouds, but every cloud does not necessarily produce rain, so growth is impossible without chemical change, but chemical processes of every kind and degree need not produce growth. In the same manner every kind of change in the molecular structure of the nucleoplasm need not exercise a transforming influence on the cytoplasm, and we can easily imagine that a long series of changes in the nucleoplasm may appear only in the kind and energy of the nuclear divisions which take place, the cell-substance remaining unchanged, as far as its molecular and chemical structure is concerned. This suggestion is in accordance with the fact that during the first period of embryonic development in animals, the cell-bodies do not exhibit any visible differences, or only such as are very slight; although exceptional instances occur, especially among the lower animals. But even these latter (e.g. the difference in appearance of the cells of the ectoderm and endoderm in sponges and Coelenterata) perhaps depend more largely upon a different admixture of nutritive substances than upon any marked difference in the cytoplasm itself. It is obvious that, in the construction of the embryo, the amount of cell-material must be first of all increased, and that it is only at a later period that the material must be differentiated so as to possess various qualities, according to the principle of division of labour. Facts of this kind are also opposed to Strasburger’s view, that the cause of changes in the nucleoplasm does not lie within this substance itself but within the cell-body.

I believe I have shown that theoretically hardly any objections can be raised against the view that the nuclear substance of somatic cells may contain unchanged germ-plasm, or that this germ-plasm may be transmitted along certain lines. It is true that we might imagine a priori that all somatic nuclei contain a small amount of unchanged germ-plasm. In Hydroids such an assumption cannot be made, because only certain cells in a certain succession possess the power of developing into germ-cells; but it might well be imagined that in some organisms it would be a great advantage if every part possessed the power of growing up into the whole organism and of producing sexual cells under appropriate circumstances. Such cases might exist if it were possible for all somatic nuclei to contain a minute fraction of unchanged germ-plasm. For this reason, Strasburger’s other objection against my theory also fails to hold; viz. that certain plants can be propagated by pieces of rhizomes, roots, or even by means of leaves, and that plants produced in this manner may finally give rise to flowers, fruit and seeds, from which new plants arise. ‘It is easy to grow new plants from the leaves of Begonia which have been cut off and merely laid upon moist sand, and yet in the normal course of ontogeny the molecules of germ-plasm would not have been compelled to pass through the leaf; and they ought therefore to be absent from its tissue. Since it is possible to raise from the leaf a plant which produces flower and fruit, it is perfectly certain that special cells containing the germ substance cannot exist in the plant.’ But I think that this fact only proves, that in Begonia and similar plants, all the cells of the leaves or perhaps only certain cells contain a small amount of germ-plasm, and that consequently these plants are specially adapted for propagation by leaves. How is it then that all plants cannot be reproduced in this way? No one has ever grown a tree from the leaf of the lime or oak, or a flowering plant from the leaf of the tulip or convolvulus. It is insufficient to reply that, in the last-mentioned cases, the leaves are more strongly specialized, and have thus become unable to produce germ-substance; for the leaf-cells in these different plants have hardly undergone histological differentiation in different degrees. If, notwithstanding, the one can produce a flowering plant, while the others have not this power, it is of course clear that reasons other than the degree of histological differentiation must exist; and, according to my opinion, such a reason is to be found in the admixture of a minute quantity of unchanged germ-plasm with some of their nuclei.

In Sachs’ excellent lectures on the physiology of plants, we read on page 723140—‘In the true mosses almost any cell of the roots, leaves and shoot-axes, and even of the immature sporogonium, may grow out under favourable conditions, become rooted, form new shoots, and give rise to an independent living plant.’ Since such plants produce germ-cells at a later period, we have here a case which requires the assumption that all or nearly all cells must contain germ-plasm.

The theory of the continuity of the germ-plasm seems to me to be still less disproved or even rendered improbable by the facts of the alternation of generations. If the germ-plasm may pass on from the egg into certain somatic cells of an individual, and if it can be further transmitted along certain lines, there is no difficulty in supposing that it may be transmitted through a second, third, or through any number of individuals produced from the former by budding. In fact, in the Hydroids, on which my theory of the continuity of the germ-plasm has been chiefly based, alternation of generations is the most important means of propagation.

II. The Significance of the Polar Bodies

We have already seen that the specific nature of a cell depends upon the molecular structure of its nucleus; and it follows from this conclusion that my theory is further, and as I believe strongly, supported, by the phenomenon of the expulsion of polar bodies, which has remained inexplicable for so long a time.

For if the specific molecular structure of a cell-body is caused and determined by the structure of the nucleoplasm, every kind of cell which is histologically differentiated must have a specific nucleoplasm. But the egg-cell of most animals, at any rate during the period of growth, is by no means an indifferent cell of the most primitive type. At such a period its cell-body has to perform quite peculiar and specific functions; it has to secrete nutritive substances of a certain chemical nature and physical constitution, and to store up this food-material in such a manner that it may be at the disposal of the embryo during its development. In most cases the egg-cell also forms membranes which are often characteristic of particular species of animals. The growing egg-cell is therefore histologically differentiated: and in this respect resembles a somatic cell. It may perhaps be compared to a gland-cell, which does not expel its secretion, but deposits it within its own substance141. To perform such specific functions it requires a specific cell-body, and the latter depends upon a specific nucleus. It therefore follows that the growing egg-cell must possess nucleoplasm of specific molecular structure, which directs the above-mentioned secretory functions of the cell. The nucleoplasm of histologically differentiated cells may be called histogenetic nucleoplasm, and the growing egg-cell must contain such a substance, and even a certain specific modification of it. This nucleoplasm cannot possibly be the same as that which, at a later period, causes embryonic development. Such development can only be produced by true germ-plasm of immensely complex constitution, such as I have previously attempted to describe. It therefore follows that the nucleus of the egg-cell contains two kinds of nucleoplasm:—germ-plasm and a peculiar modification of histogenetic nucleoplasm, which may be called ovogenetic nucleoplasm. This substance must greatly preponderate in the young egg-cell, for, as we have already seen, it controls the growth of the latter. The germ-plasm, on the other hand, can only be present in minute quantity at first, but it must undergo considerable increase during the growth of the cell. But in order that the germ-plasm may control the cell-body, or, in other words, in order that embryonic development may begin, the still preponderating ovogenetic nucleoplasm must be removed from the cell. This removal takes place in the same manner as that in which differing nuclear substances are separated during the ontogeny of the embryo: viz. by nuclear division, leading to cell-division. The expulsion of the polar bodies is nothing more than the removal of ovogenetic nucleoplasm from the egg-cell. That the ovogenetic nucleoplasm continues to greatly preponderate in the nucleus up to the very last, may be concluded from the fact that two successive divisions of the latter and the expulsion of two polar bodies appear to be the rule. If in this way a small part of the cell-body is expelled from the egg, the extrusion must in all probability be considered as an inevitable loss, without which the removal of the ovogenetic nucleoplasm cannot be effected.

This is my theory of the significance of polar bodies, and I do not intend to contrast it, in extenso, with the theories propounded by others; for such theories are well known and differ essentially from my own. All writers agree in supposing that something which would be an obstacle to embryonic development is removed from the egg; but opinions differ as to the nature of this substance and the precise reasons for its removal142. Some observers (e. g. Minot143, van Beneden, and Balfour) regard the nucleus as hermaphrodite, and assume that in the polar bodies the male element is expelled in order to render the egg capable of fertilization. Others speak of a rejuvenescence of the nucleus, others again believe that the quantity of nuclear substance must be reduced in order to become equal to that of the generally minute sperm-nucleus, and that the proportions for nuclear conjugation are in this way adjusted.

The first view seems to me to be disproved by the fact that male as well as female qualities are transmitted by the egg-cell, while the sperm-cell also transmits female qualities. The germ-plasm of the nucleus of the egg cannot therefore be considered as female, and that of the sperm-nucleus cannot be considered as male: both are sexually indifferent. The last view has been recently formulated by Strasburger, who holds that the quantity of the idioplasm contained in the germ-nucleus must be reduced by one half, and that a whole nucleus is again produced by conjugation with the sperm-nucleus. Although I believe that the fundamental idea underlying this hypothesis is perfectly correct, viz. that the influence of each nucleus is as largely dependent upon its quantity as upon its quality, I must raise the objection that the decrease in quantity is not the explanation of the expulsion of polar bodies. The quantity of idioplasm contained in the germ-nucleus is, as a matter of fact, not reduced by one-half but by three-fourths, for two divisions take place one after the other. Thus by conjugation with the sperm-nucleus, which we may assume to be of the same size as the germ-nucleus, a nucleus is produced which can only contain half as much idioplasm as was present in the original germ-nucleus, before division. Strasburger’s view leaves unexplained the question why the size of the germ-nucleus, before the expulsion of polar bodies, was thus twice as large; and even if we neglect the theory of ovogenetic nucleoplasm and assume that this larger nucleus was entirely made up of germ-plasm, it must be asked why the egg did not commence segmentation earlier. The theory which explains the sperm-cell as the vitalizing principle which starts embryonic development, like the spark which kindles the gunpowder, would indeed answer this question in a very simple manner. But Strasburger does not accept this theory, and holds, as I do, a very different view, which will be explained later on.

If, on the other hand, we assume that the germ-nucleus contains two different kinds of nucleoplasm, the question is answered quite satisfactorily. In treating of parthenogenesis, further on, I shall mention a fact which seems to me to furnish a real proof of the validity of this explanation; and, if we accept this fact for the present, it will be clear that the simple explanation now offered of phenomena which are otherwise so difficult to understand, would also largely support the theory of the continuity of the germ-plasm. Such an explanation would, above all, very clearly demonstrate the co-existence of two nucleoplasms with different qualities in one and the same nucleus. My theory must stand or fall with this explanation, for if the latter were disproved, the continuity of the germ-plasm could not be assumed in any instance, not even in the simplest cases, where, as in Diptera, the germ-cells are the first-formed products of embryonic development. For even in these insects the egg possesses a specific histological character which must depend upon a specifically differentiated nucleus. If then two kinds of nucleoplasm are not present, we must assume that in such cases the germ-plasm of the newly formed germ-cells, which has passed on unchanged from the segmentation nucleus, is at once transformed entirely into ovogenetic nucleoplasm, and must be re-transformed into germ-plasm at a later period when the egg is fully mature. We could not in any way understand why such a re-transformation requires the expulsion of part of the nuclear substance.

At all events, my explanation is simpler than all others, in that it only assumes a single transformation of part of the germ-plasm, and not the later re-transformation of ovogenetic nucleoplasm into germ-plasm, which is so improbable. The ovogenetic nucleoplasm must possess entirely different qualities from the germ-plasm; and, above all, it does not readily lead to division, and thus we can better understand the fact, in itself so remarkable, that egg-cells do not increase in number by division, when they have assumed their specific structure, and are controlled by the ovogenetic nucleoplasm. The tendency to nuclear division, and consequently to cell-division, is not produced until changes have to a certain extent taken place in the mutual relation between the two kinds of nucleoplasm contained in the germ-nucleus. This change is coincident with the attainment of maximum size by the body of the egg-cell. Strasburger, supported by his observations on Spirogyra, concludes that the stimulus towards cell-division emanates from the cell-body; but the so-called centres of attraction at the poles of the nuclear spindle obviously arise under the influence of the nucleus itself, even if we admit that they are entirely made up of cytoplasm. But this point has not been decided upon, and we may presume that the so-called ‘Polkörperchen’ of the spindle (Fol) are derived from the nucleus, although they are placed outside the nuclear membrane144. Many points connected with this subject are still in a state of uncertainty, and we must abstain from general conclusions until it has been possible to demonstrate clearly the precise nature of certain phenomena attending indirect nuclear division, which still remain obscure in spite of the efforts of so many excellent observers. We cannot even form a decided opinion as to whether the chromatin or the achromatin of the nuclear thread is the real idioplasm. But although these points are not yet thoroughly understood, we are justified in maintaining that the cell enters upon division under the influence of certain conditions of the nucleus, although the latter are invisible until cell-division has already commenced.

I now pass on to examine my hypothesis as to the significance of the formation of polar bodies, in the light of those ascertained facts which bear upon it.

If the expulsion of the polar bodies means the removal of the ovogenetic nucleoplasm after the histological differentiation of the egg-cell is complete, we must expect to find polar bodies in all species except those in which the egg-cell has remained in a primitive undifferentiated condition, if indeed such species exist. Wherever the egg-cell assumes the character of a specialized cell, e.g. in the attainment of a particular size or constitution, in the admixture of food-yolk, or the formation of membranes, it must also contain ovogenetic nucleoplasm, which must ultimately be removed if the germ-plasm is to gain control over the egg-cell. It does not signify at all, in this respect, whether the egg is or is not destined for fertilization.

If we examine the Metazoa in regard to this question, we find that polar bodies have not yet been discovered in sponges145, but this negative evidence is no proof that they are really absent. In all probability, no one has ever seriously endeavoured to find them, and there are perhaps difficulties in the way of the proofs of their existence, because the egg-cell lies free for a long time and even moves actively in the tissue of the mesogloea. We might expect that the formation of polar bodies takes place here, as in all other instances, when the egg becomes mature, that is, at a time when the eggs are already closely enveloped in the sponge tissue. At all events the eggs of sponges, as far as they are known, attain a specific nature, in the possession of a peculiar cell-body, frequently containing food-yolk, and of the nucleus which is characteristic of all animal eggs during the process of growth. Hence we cannot doubt the presence of a specific ovogenetic nucleoplasm, and must therefore also believe that it is ultimately removed in the polar bodies.

In other Coelenterata, in worms, echinoderms, and in molluscs polar bodies have been described, as well as in certain Crustacea, viz. in Balanus by Hoek and in Cetochilus septentrionale by Grobben. The latter instance appears to be quite trustworthy, but there is some doubt as to the former and also as regards Moina (a Daphnid), in which Grobben found a body, which he considered to be a polar body, on the upper pole of an egg which was just entering upon segmentation. In insects polar bodies have not been described up to the present time146, and only in a few cases in Vertebrata, as in Petromyzon by Kupffer and Benecke.