Working out _x′_ in the same way, we arrive at the approximate value,
_x′_ + 1 = 1·517. {369}
This is as much as to say that, supposing each cell tends to divide
into two halves when (and not before) its original size is doubled,
then, in our flattened disc, the triangular cell _T_ will tend to
divide when the radius of the disc has increased by about a third (from
1 to 1·345), but the quadrilateral cell, _Q_, will not tend to divide
until the linear dimensions of the disc have increased by about a half
(from 1 to 1·517).
The case here illustrated is of no small general importance. For
it shews us that a uniform and symmetrical growth of the organism
(symmetrical, that is to say, under the limitations of a plane surface,
or plane section) by no means involves a uniform or symmetrical growth
of the individual cells, but may, under certain conditions, actually
lead to inequality among these; and this inequality may be further
emphasised by differences which arise out of it, in regard to the
order of frequency of further subdivision. This phenomenon (or to be
quite candid, this hypothesis, which is due to Berthold) is entirely
independent of any change or variation in individual surface tensions;
and accordingly it is essentially different from the phenomenon of
unequal segmentation (as studied by Balfour), to which we have referred
on p. 348.
In this fashion, we might go on to consider the manner, and the
order of succession, in which the subsequent cell-divisions would
tend to take place, as governed by the principle of minimal areas.
But the calculations would grow more difficult, or the results got
by simple methods would grow less and less exact. At the same time,
some of these results would be of great interest, and well worth the
trouble of obtaining. For instance, the precise manner in which our
triangular cell, _T_, would next divide would be interesting to know,
and a general solution of this problem is certainly troublesome to
calculate. But in this particular case we can see that the width of the
triangular cell near _P_ is so obviously less than that near either of
the other two angles, that a circular arc cutting off that angle is
bound to be the shortest possible bisecting line; and that, in short,
our triangular cell will tend to subdivide, just like the original
quadrant, into a triangular and a quadrilateral portion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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