Transcriber’s notes:
In this transcription, italic text is denoted by *asterisks* and bold
text by =equal signs=. Subscripts are indicated by _underscores_ (e.g.
*a*_1 and *b*_1 in Fig.5 caption) and superscripts by ^ (e.g. *a*^1. in
Fig. 9 caption).
Page footnotes (renumbered in consecutive order) are now located
immediately below the relevant paragraphs.
The rare spelling typos noted in the original text have been corrected
silently (e.g. invividual-->individual, hyberbola-->hyperbola) but
inconsistent use of the ligature æ/ae (e.g. palæontology/palaeontology),
inconsistent use of alternative spellings (e.g. learned/learnt), and
occasional inconsistencies of hyphenation have been left as in the
original. Minor punctuation typos have been corrected silently (e.g.
index entries with missing commas). The abbreviation viz. appears in
both roman and italic font.
Formatting of entries in the Table of Contents does not accurately
match that of the corresponding headings in the text, particularly the
heading Pt.I-B-3 which contains an extraneous α.
In Figure 12 caption, multiple ditto marks have been replaced by the
relevant text for greater clarity.
THE SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY
OF THE ORGANISM
AGENTS
America The Macmillan Company
64 & 66 Fifth Avenue, New York
Australasia The Oxford University Press, Melbourne
Canada The Macmillan Company of Canada, Ltd.
27 Richmond Street West, Toronto
India Macmillan & Company, Ltd.
Macmillan Building, Bombay
309 Bow Bazaar Street, Calcutta
THE
SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY
OF THE ORGANISM
THE GIFFORD LECTURES DELIVERED BEFORE
THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN
IN THE YEAR 1907
BY
HANS DRIESCH, Ph.D.
HEIDELBERG
LONDON
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK
1908
*All rights reserved*
PREFACE
This work is not a text-book of theoretical biology; it is a systematic
presentment of those biological topics which bear upon the true
philosophy of nature. The book is written in a decidedly subjective
manner, and it seems to me that this is just what “Gifford Lectures”
ought to be. They ought never to lose, or even try to lose, their
decidedly personal character.
My appointment as Gifford Lecturer, the news of which reached me in
February 1906, came just at the right moment in the progress of my
theoretical studies. I had always tried to improve my previous books by
adding notes or altering the arrangement; I also had left a good deal of
things unpublished, and thus I often hoped that I might have occasion
to arrange for a new, improved, and enlarged edition of those books.
This work then is the realisation of my hopes; it is, in its way, a
definitive statement of all that I have to say about the Organic.
The first volume of this work, containing the lectures for 1907--though
the division into “lectures” has not been preserved--consists of Parts
I. and II. of Section A, “The Chief Results of Analytical Biology.”
It gives in Part I. a shortened, revised, and, as I hope, improved
account of what was published in my *Analytische Theorie der organischen
Entwickelung* (1894), *Die Localisation morphogenetischer Vorgänge;
ein Beweis Vitalistischen Geschehens* (1899), and *Die organischen
Regulationen* (1901), though for the professed biologist the two
last-named books are by no means superseded by the new work. Part II.
has never been published in any systematic form before, though there are
many remarks on Systematics, Darwinism, etc., in my previous papers.
The second volume--to be published in the autumn, after the delivery of
the 1908 lectures--will begin with the third and concluding part of the
scientific section, which is a very carefully revised and rearranged
second edition of my book, *Die “Seele” als elementarer Naturfactor*
(1903). The greater part of this volume, however, will be devoted to the
“Philosophy of the Organism,” *i.e.* Section B, which, in my opinion,
includes the most important parts of the work.
Some apology is needed for my presuming to write in English. I was
led to do so by the conviction, mistaken perhaps, that the process of
translation would rob the lectures of that individual and personal
character which, as I said before, seems to me so much to be desired. I
wished nothing to come between me and my audience. I accordingly wrote
my manuscript in English, and then submitted it to linguistic revision
by such skilled aid as I was able to procure at Heidelberg. My reviser
tells me that if the result of his labours leaves much to be desired,
it is not to be wondered at, but that, being neither a biologist nor a
philosopher, he has done his best to make me presentable to the English
reader. If he has failed in his troublesome task, I know that it is not
for want of care and attention, and I desire here to record my sense of
indebtedness to him. He wishes to remain anonymous, but I am permitted
to say that, though resident in a foreign university, he is of Scottish
name and English birth.
My gratitude to my friends at Aberdeen, in particular to Professor and
Mrs. J. A. Thomson, for their hospitality and great kindness towards me
cannot be expressed here; they all know that they succeeded in making me
feel quite at home with them.
I am very much obliged to my publishers, Messrs. A. and C. Black, for
their readiness to fulfil all my wishes with respect to publication.
The lectures contained in this book were written in English by a
German and delivered at a Scottish university. Almost all of the ideas
discussed in it were first conceived during the author’s long residence
in Southern Italy. Thus this book may be witness to the truth which,
I hope, will be universally recognised in the near future--that all
culture, moral and intellectual and aesthetic, is not limited by the
bounds of nationality.
HANS DRIESCH.
Heidelberg, *2nd January 1908*.
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME
THE PROGRAMME
PAGE
On Lord Gifford’s Conception of “Science” 1
Natural Sciences and “Natural Theology” 3
Our Philosophical Basis 5
On Certain Characteristics of Biology as a Science 9
The Three Different Types of Knowledge about Nature 13
General Plan of these Lectures 15
General Character of the Organic Form 19
SECTION A.--THE CHIEF RESULTS OF ANALYTICAL BIOLOGY
PART I.--THE INDIVIDUAL ORGANISM WITH REGARD TO FORM AND METABOLISM
*A.* ELEMENTARY MORPHOGENESIS--
Evolutio and Epigenesis in the old Sense 25
The Cell 27
The Egg: its Maturation and Fertilisation 31
The First Developmental Processes of Echinus 33
Comparative Embryology 44
The First Steps of Analytical Morphogenesis 45
The Limits of Pure Description in Science 50
*B.* EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL MORPHOGENESIS--
1. THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE PHYSIOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT.
“EVOLUTIO” AND “EPIGENESIS” 52
The Theory of Weismann 52
Experimental Morphology 56
The Work of Wilhelm Roux 58
The Experiments on the Egg of the Sea-urchin 59
On the Intimate Structure of the Protoplasm of the Germ 65
On some Specificities of Organisation in Certain Germs 70
General Results of the First Period of “Entwickelungsmechanik” 71
Some New Results concerning Restitutions 74
2. ANALYTICAL THEORY OF MORPHOGENESIS 76
α. THE DISTRIBUTION OF MORPHOGENIC POTENCIES 76
Prospective Value and Prospective Potency 76
The Potencies of the Blastomeres 79
The Potencies of Elementary Organs in General 80
Explicit and Implicit Potencies: Primary and Secondary
Potencies 83
The Morphogenetic Function of Maturation in the Light of
Recent Discoveries 85
The Intimate Structure of Protoplasm: Further Remarks 88
The Neutrality of the Concept of “Potency” 89
β. THE “MEANS” OF MORPHOGENESIS 89
β′. The Internal Elementary Means of Morphogenesis 90
Some Remarks on the Importance of Surface Tension in
Morphogenesis 91
On Growth 93
On Cell-division 94
β″. The External Means of Morphogenesis 95
The Discoveries of Herbst 96
γ. THE FORMATIVE CAUSES OR STIMULI 99
The Definition of Cause 99
Some Instances of Formative and Directive Stimuli 102
δ. THE MORPHOGENETIC HARMONIES 107
ε. ON RESTITUTIONS 110
A few Remarks on Secondary Potencies and on Secondary
Morphogenetic Regulations in General 110
The Stimuli of Restitutions 113
3. THE PROBLEM OF MORPHOGENETIC LOCALISATION: THE
THEORY OF THE HARMONIOUS-EQUIPOTENTIAL SYSTEM--FIRST
PROOF OF THE AUTONOMY OF LIFE 118
The General Problem 118
The Morphogenetic “System” 119
The “Harmonious-equipotential System” 122
Instances of “Harmonious-equipotential Systems” 126
The Problem of the Factor *E* 132
No Explanation offered by “Means” or “Formative Stimuli” 132
No Explanation offered by a Chemical Theory of Morphogenesis 134
No Machine Possible Inside the Harmonious Systems 138
The Autonomy of Morphogenesis proved 142
“Entelechy” 143
Some General Remarks on Vitalism 145
The Logic of our First Proof of Vitalism 146
4. ON CERTAIN OTHER FEATURES OF MORPHOGENESIS ADVOCATING
ITS AUTONOMY 150
Harmonious-equipotential Systems formed by Wandering Cells 151
On Certain Combined Types of Morphogenetic Systems 153
The “Morphaesthesia” of Noll 157
Restitutions of the Second Order 158
On the “Equifinality” of Restitutions 159
Remarks on “Retro-Differentiation” 163
*C.* ADAPTATION--
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON REGULATIONS IN GENERAL 165
1. MORPHOLOGICAL ADAPTATION 168
The Limits of the Concept of Adaptation 168
Adaptations to Functional Changes from Without 172
True Functional Adaptation 176
Theoretical Conclusions 179
2. PHYSIOLOGICAL ADAPTATION 184
Specific Adaptedness *not* “Adaptation” 186
Primary and Secondary Adaptations in Physiology 188
On Certain Pre-requisites of Adaptations in General 189
On Certain Groups of Primary Physiological Adaptations 190
General Remarks on Irritability 190
The Regulation of Heat Production 193
Primary Regulations in the Transport of Materials and
Certain Phenomena of Osmotic Pressure 194
Chromatic Regulations in Algae 197
Metabolic Regulations 198
Immunity the only Type of a Secondary Physiological
Adaptation 204
No General Positive Result from this Chapter 209
A few Remarks on the Limits of Regulability 212
*D.* INHERITANCE. SECOND PROOF OF THE AUTONOMY OF LIFE--
The Material Continuity in Inheritance 214
On Certain Theories which Seek to Compare Inheritance to Memory 216
The Complex-Equipotential System and its Rôle in Inheritance 219
The Second Proof of Life-Autonomy. Entelechy at the Bottom
of Inheritance 224
The Significance of the Material Continuity in Inheritance 227
The Experimental Facts about Inheritance 228
The Rôle of the Nucleus in Inheritance 233
Variation and Mutation 237
*CONCLUSIONS FROM THE FIRST MAIN PART OF THESE LECTURES* 240