Description:
<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title>
<jats:p>In a paper published last autumn (this Journal, vol. 37), I called attention to the apparent inadequacy of the celltheory. Recently a criticism upon my article has appeared from the pen of Mr. G. C. Bourne, to which I may be allowed to devote a few words. But before replying to Mr. Bourne, I should like to state my position with regard to the theory a little more fully than I have hitherto done. In my previous communication I used theword “inadequacy” because it seemed to me to express, as nearly as possible, my own views with regard to the theory. A theory to be of any value must explain the whole body of facts with which it deals. If it falls short of this, it must be held to be insufficient or inadequate ; and when at the same time it is so masterful as to compel men to look at nature through its eyes, and to twist stubborn and uncomformable facts into accord with its dogmas, then it becomes an instrument of mischief, and deserves condemnation, if only of the mild kind implied by the term inadequate.</jats:p>