The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-29
III.

n Ia we'll known that. while nutrition
insures the maintenance of the organic
individual, reproduction insures that OF
the organic species or the group Of forms
which we distinguish from others by the
name species In chapter dealing
with the subject tho rise of new individuals
by reproduction from parent organisms
is defined as natural phenomenon. with
definite time restriction It cannot have
continued from eternity on our planet,
as the earth itself is not eternal, and even
long after it's formation wns incapable
Of supporting organic life on its surface.
This only became possible when the surface
Of the glowing planet had cooled sufficiently
for liquid water to settle on It. Until this
stage was reached carbon could not enter
into those combinations with other elements
Oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulphur
which led to the formation Of plasm. As
Prof. Haeckel intends to deal with tho pro-
cess Of archigony, or spontaneous genera
ton, in the fourth section Of his book, he
confines himself in the chapter on reproduce
ton to the study Of tocogony, or parental
generation.
The various forms Of tocogony. or the
reproduction Of living things, are generally
divided into two large groups On the one
hand there is the simple form Of aseXual
generation (monogony); on the other, the
complex form OF sexual generation (amphig-
ony). In many Of the lower animals how
ever and in most Of the plants we find that
asexual multiplication, or monogony, can
take place through cleavage (cuttings)
or budding. In the lowest organisms
- IN ff,rrr Of
Some Of the older writer's, and even some
recent ones on biology have regarded
sexual generation as universal func-
ton OF organisms and have declared that
it dates from the very beginning Of organic
life. Prof. Haeckel holds, on the contrary,
that historical biology must say that mon
ogony is the older and more primitive
form OF parental generation and that
amphigony was secondarily devel-
oped from IL. To render Ineligible
to lis the complex and often very
intricate phenomena OF sexual generation,
as we find them in the higher organisms.
our author bids US compare them with the
simpler forms OF asexual generation at the
lowest stages Of life. we then learn that
they 1.-THE phenomena of sexual generationl
are by no means unintelligible and super
natural marvels, but natural physiological
processes, which, like all others, may be
traced 70 the action Of simple. physical
forces The form Of energy which lies at
the root OF all tocogony is growth (cTes-
eentidl And as this phenomenon Is also
the cause, in the form Of grsvitauon, of the
formation Of crystals and other inorganic
individuals. We do away with one Of the
boundaries which people would establish
between organic and inorganic nature
Again Reproduction is kind Of nutrition
and growth Of the organism beyond the
individual standard. building up part Of
II into a whole. The limit Of individual
size is determined for each species by two
factors--the inner constitution OF the plasm,
which Is inherited and the dependence on
the outer environment which controls
adaptation When this limit has been passed
the transgresslve or redundant growth
takes the form Of reproduction. Every
species Of crystal has also a definite limit Of
growth when this is passed new crystal
individuals are formed in the mo,her-water.
on the old individual, which grows no
further
A-exual or monogonetic tocogony also
called "vegctative mutt iplicaton' isalways.
a. We lave said effected by a single or
Canic individual. and 30 is traced by our