The Biological Problem of To-day: Preformation Or Epigenesis?: The Basis of a Theory of Organic DevelopmentHertwig, Oscar
Science
The Biological Problem of To-day: Preformation Or Epigenesis?: The Basis of a Theory of Organic Development
Hertwig, Oscar
Developmental biology; Embryology; Genetics
On the other hand, we regard the development of the rudiments as depending
upon motive forces or causes that are external to the germplasm of the
ovum, but that none the less arise in orderly sequence throughout the
course of the development. The causes we recognise are first, the continual
changes in mutual relations that the cells undergo as they increase in
number by division, and second, the influence of surrounding things upon
the organism.
One may group together as _centrifugal causes_ of the process of
development the characters of the fertilised cells and the interrelations
between the products of their divisions, and distinguish them from the
_centripetal causes_, or motive forces that are provided by the action of
surrounding things. None the less, it must be borne in mind that there is
no sharp distinction between centrifugal and centripetal forces. On page 86
I showed how what is external in one stage of the process becomes internal
in the succeeding stage. The external constantly is becoming internal, and
the sum of the internal factors increases only at the expense of external
factors.
From the physiological point of view I regard the divergent differentiation
of cells as a reaction of the organic material to unlike impelling
forces--that is, to factors shown by experimental physiology to be actually
present and to rule the building up of the organism. 'It were superfluous
to detail,' as Naegeli says, 'how continually other forces external to the
idioplasm, but belonging to the individual, influence the idioplasm; every
cell, indeed, as it grows and divides, takes up a definite place in the
growing whole, and finds itself in a peculiar combination of conditions of
organisation.' 'Not only influences within the individual affect the
idioplasm, as that may be altered by external influences, and so may be
forced to grow in a new direction.' 'The influence of surroundings in
determining which of the rudiments contained in the idioplasm shall achieve
development is shown in the following example: it depends on their
nutrition whether certain trees shall bear foliage or flowers; while in an
unpropitious climate many plants refuse to bear flowers at all, but content
themselves with vegetative reproduction.'
This principle indicates the path along which explanation of the
differentiation of cells is to be sought. Although in no single case is it
yet possible to refer a known action to its appropriate cause--in other
words, to show a definite stimulus producing a definite reaction upon the
rudiment--this failure is not to be attributed to error in the principle.
It is the natural result of the enormous difficulties besetting an attempt
to understand the highly involved events of development. We can only ask
whether or no our general principle is harmonious with the facts displayed
in nature.
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