Barfurth’s definition of regeneration is unsatisfactory, since an egg is
itself a portion of an organism that makes a new whole, and this sort of
development is not, of course, as he himself points out, to be included
in the term regeneration. Nor does the use of the word “replacement”
save the definition, since in many cases the kind of part that is lost
is not replaced. The use of the word “pathological” to distinguish
ordinary regeneration from physiological regeneration is, I think, also
unfortunate, since it implies too much. There is nothing necessarily
pathological in the process, especially in such cases as hydra, or as in
the development of a piece of an egg where the piece is transformed
directly into a new organism. Furthermore, in those cases in which (as
in some annelids and planarians) a new head is formed after or during
the process of natural division, there is little that suggests a
pathological process; and in this instance the regeneration takes place
in the same way as after artificial section.
Driesch, in his _Analytische Theorie_, states that Fraisse and Barfurth
have established that during regeneration each organ produces only its
like. Driesch defines regeneration, therefore, as the re-awakening of
those factors that once more bring into play, by means of division and
growth, the elementary processes that had ceased to act when the
embryonic development was finished. This is regeneration in the
restricted sense, but Driesch also points out that this definition must
be enlarged, since, when a triton, for example, regenerates its leg, not
only does each tissue produce its like, but later a reconstruction and
differentiation takes place, so that a leg and foot are formed, and not
simply a stump containing all of the typical tissues. Driesch holds that
regeneration should include only those cases in which a _proliferation_
of new tissue precedes the development of the new part, and suggests
that other terms be used for such cases as those of pieces of hydra,
pieces of the egg, etc., in which the change takes place in the old part
without proliferation of new tissue. It seems to me unwise to narrow the
scope of the word regeneration as Driesch proposes, for it has neither
historical usage in its favor, nor can we make any fundamental
distinction between cases in which proliferation takes place and those
in which it does not. As will be shown later, the factors that are
present in the two cases appear to be in large part the same, and while
it may be convenient to put into one class those cases in which
proliferation precedes the formation of the new organs, and into another
class those cases in which the change takes place without proliferation,
yet, since the distinction is one of subordinate value, it is necessary
to have one word to include both groups of cases; and no better word
than regeneration has, I think, been as yet suggested.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account