Mendel’s experiments are of great importance, for they give us some insight into the nature of the sexual act. But, as is usual in such cases, Mendel’s disciples have greatly exaggerated the value and importance of his work. It is necessary to bear in mind that Mendel’s results apply only to a limited number of cases—to what we may call balanced characters. In the case of characters which do not balance one another, which are, so to speak, not diametrically opposed to one another, Mendel’s law does not hold. A second important point is, that the dominance is in many cases not nearly so complete as it should be if the Mendelian formula correctly represented what actually occurs in nature. Further, the segregation of the gametes does not appear to be so complete as the above hypothesis requires it to be. The phenomena of inheritance seem to be far more complex than the thorough-going Mendelian would have us believe.
Let it be noted that it is not to the facts of Mendelism, but to some portions of what we may call the Mendelian theory, that we take exception.
Maturation of the Germ-cells
Before passing on to consider some of the later developments of Mendelism, it is necessary for us to set forth briefly certain of the more important facts regarding the sexual act which the microscope has brought to light. We propose to state these only in the merest outline. Those who are desirous of pursuing the subject farther are referred to Professor Thomson’s Heredity.
The germ cells, like all other cells, consist of a nucleus lying in a mass of cytoplasm. The nucleus is composed of a number of rod-like bodies, which are called chromosomes, because they are readily stainable.
These chromosomes appear, under ordinary circumstances, to be joined together end to end, and then look like a rope in a tangle.
When a cell is about to divide into two, these chromosomes become disjoined and can then be counted, and it is found that each cell of each species of animal or plant has a fixed number of these chromosomes. Thus the mouse and the lily have twenty-four chromosomes in each cell, while the ox is said to have sixteen of them per cell.
When a cell divides into two, each of these chromosomes splits by a longitudinal fissure into two halves, which appear to be exactly alike. One-half of every chromosome passes into each of the daughter cells, so that each of these is furnished with exactly half of each one of the rod-like chromosomes. In the cell division, which takes place immediately before the male gamete or generative cell meets the female gamete, the chromosomes do not divide into equal halves, as is usually the case. In this division half of them pass into one daughter cell and half into the other daughter cell, so that, prior to fertilisation both the male and the female gametes contain only half the normal number of chromosomes. In the sexual act the male and the female chromosomes join forces and then the normal number is again made up, each parent contributing exactly one half.
Experiments of Delage and Loeb
Biologists, with a few exceptions, seem to be agreed that these chromosomes are the carriers of all that which one generation inherits from another. Thus the cardinal facts of the sexual act are, firstly, prior to fertilisation the male and the female gamete each part with half their chromosomes; and, secondly, the fertilised cell is composed of the normal number of chromosomes, of which one-half have been furnished by each parent. Thus the microscope shows that the nucleus of the fertilised egg is made up of equal contributions from each parent. This is quite in accordance with the observed phenomena of inheritance.