most anterior end of the new material, and the new tail at the most
posterior end. If we assume that the result is in some way connected
with the influence of the old part on the new, and that this influence
is of such a sort that the more anterior part of the old tissue
determines that one side of the head must be at the most anterior edge,
we have at least a formal explanation of the position of the head at the
side. Given the position of the new head fixed at one side, its breadth
will be determined by the maximum breadth possible for the formation of
a new head. This is also in part an assumption, but it has at least
certain general facts of observation in its favor. The oblique position
of the new head is the result of its symmetrical development in the new
material in the same way that the position of the tail of the fish or of
the tadpole is the result of the symmetrical formation of the new tail
on the oblique surface. The subsequent changes, by means of which a
symmetrical worm is developed, are the result of different rates of
growth in the different parts. In this connection the most important
fact is that the growth takes place most rapidly where it will bring
about the new form. This problem, which is one of the most fundamental
in connection with the phenomena of development and of regeneration,
will be more fully discussed in a later chapter.
A number of assumptions have been made in the above attempt to give an
analysis of the formation of a head at the side of an oblique surface.
That these assumptions are not entirely arbitrary, but have a certain
amount of evidence in their favor, can, I think, be shown. The new
material that first appears is supposed to be totipotent, in the sense
that any part of it may produce any part of the structure that develops
from this material. That this is probable is shown by the following
experiment. If a cross-piece is cut from a worm, and then split
lengthwise into halves, each half will produce a new head at the
anterior edge of the piece. This result shows, at least, that from the
tissue lying to the right or to the left of the middle line new material
may be formed from which a whole head may develop. The new head does not
stand at first with its middle axis in line with the middle of the old
piece, _i.e._ it does not stand squarely at the anterior end of the
half-piece, but more towards the inner side of the piece. It may appear
that the old part has sufficient influence on the new part to shift the
axis of the latter toward the old middle line, but while some such
influence may be present, it is probable that the position of the head
is in part the outcome of another factor, viz. the presence at the inner
side of the piece of an undeveloped new side, with which the explanation
of the less development of the inner side of the head is also connected.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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