Being Well-Born: An Introduction to EugenicsGuyer, Michael F. (Michael Frederic)
Philosophy
Being Well-Born: An Introduction to Eugenics
Guyer, Michael F. (Michael Frederic)
Eugenics; Genetics
=Natural Death Appears With the Establishment of a Body Distinct from the
Germ.--=Volvox is an organism of unusual interest because in it we see a
prophecy of what is to come. Although still regarded as a colony of
single-celled individuals, it represents in reality a transition between
the whole group of unicellular animals termed protozoa and the many celled
animals characterized by the possession of distinct tissues, known as
_Metazoa_. Moreover, it shows an interesting stage in the establishment of
a body or _soma_ distinct from special reproductive cells which have taken
on the function of reproducing the colony. In such colonial forms natural
death is found appearing for the first time, the reproductive cells alone
continuing to perpetuate the species. Then again Volvox represents an
important step in the establishment of sex in the animal kingdom for in
its sexual reproduction the conjugating cells known as _gametes_ are no
longer alike in appearance but have become differentiated into definite
ova and spermatozoa.
In Volvox as in the other organisms which we have studied we find that all
of the cells including the germ-cells are produced by the repeated
division of a parent cell, and consequently each must contain the
characteristic living substance of that parent. Many other forms might be
cited to illustrate reproduction in single-celled animals, whether free or
in colonies, but all such cases would be practically but repetitions or
modifications of those we have already examined.
=Specialization in Higher Organisms.--=If we pass on to the higher animals
and plants which are not single cells or colonies of similar cells but
organisms made up of many different kinds of cells, we find a pronounced
extension of the phenomenon met with in Volvox. Instead of each cell
executing independently all of the life relations, certain ones are set
apart for the performance of certain functions to the exclusion of other
functions which are carried on by other members of the aggregation. Thus
the organism as a whole has all the life relations carried on, but, as it
were, by specialists.
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