The Science and Philosophy of the Organism

by Hans Driesch

The Cell[3]

You are aware that all organisms consist of organs and that each of their organs has a different function: the brain, the liver, the eyes, the hands are types of organs in animals, as are the leaves and the pistils in plants.

You are also aware that, except in the lowest organisms, the so-called Protista, all organs are built up of cells. That is a simple fact of observation, and I therefore cannot agree with the common habit of giving to this plain fact the title of cell-“theory.” There is nothing theoretical in it; and, on the other hand, all attempts to conceive the organism as a mere aggregate of cells have proved to be wrong. It is the whole that uses the cells, as we shall see later on, or that may not use them: thus there is nothing like a “cell-theory,” even in a deeper meaning of the word.

The cell may have the most different forms: take a cell of the skin, of a muscle, of a gland, of the wood in plants as typical examples. But in every case two parts may be distinguished in a cell: an outside part, the protoplasm, and an inside part, the nucleus, to leave out of special account several others, which, by the way, may only be protoplasmatic modifications.

Protoplasm is a mere name for what is not the nucleus; in any case it is not a homogeneous chemical compound; it consists of many such compounds and has a sort of architecture; all organic functions are based upon its metabolism. The nucleus has a very typical structure, which stands in a close relation to its behaviour during the most characteristic morphological period of the cell: during its division. Let us devote a few words to a consideration of this division and the part the nucleus plays in it; it will directly bear on future theoretical considerations about development.

There is a certain substance in every nucleus of a cell which stains most markedly, whenever cells are treated with pigments: the name of “chromatin” has been given to it. The chromatin always gives the reaction of an acid, while protoplasm is basic; besides that it seems to be a centre of oxidation. Now, when a division of a cell is to occur, the chromatin, which had been diffusely distributed before, in the form of small grains, arranges itself into a long and very much twisted thread. This thread breaks, as it were by sections, into almost equal parts, typical in number for each species, and each of these parts is split at full length. A certain number of pairs of small threads, the so-called “chromosomes,” are the ultimate result of this process, which intentionally has been described a little schematically, the breaking and the splitting in fact going on simultaneously or occasionally even in reverse order. While what we have described is performing in the nucleus, there have happened some typical modifications in protoplasm, and then, by an interaction of protoplasmatic and nuclear factors, the first step in the actual division of the cell begins. Of each pair of the small threads of chromatin one constituent is moved to one side of the cell, one to the other; two daughter-nuclei are formed in this way; the protoplasm itself at the same time forms a circular furrow between them; the furrow gets deeper and deeper; at last it cuts the cell in two, and the division of the cell is accomplished.

Not only is the growth of the already typically formed organism carried out by a series of cell-divisions, but also development proper in our sense, as a “production of visible manifoldness,” is realised to a great extent by the aid of such divisions, which therefore may indeed be said to be of very fundamental importance (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.—Diagram of Cell-Division (after Boveri).

a.	Resting cell; the chromatin distributed in the form of small granules inside the nucleus. Outside the nucleus is the “centrosome,” not mentioned in the text.
b.	Beginning of division; the chromatin arranged in the form of a long thread. Centrosome divided in two.
c.	The thread of chromatin cut into four parts, the “chromosomes.”
d.	The four parts of the chromatin arranged symmetrically between the centrosomes and the star-like “spheres.”
e.	Each of the chromosomes split at full length.
f.	Beginning of division of protoplasm; the two parts of each chromosome separated.
g.	End of cell-division.