. The action of the living cell; experimental researches in biology. Cells; Shock; Irritability. NATURAL RESISTANCE 179 At first glance these conclusions may appear to be at variance with the results of the author's experiments concerning the breeding of animals. Such, however, is not the case, as the following considerations will show. Supposing that, given an adult man who by right of inheritance is an excellent physical being capable of withstanding without difficulty the rigors of present day civilization, we suddenly transfer him to the Arc- tic regions and fail to equip him with proper c
. The action of the living cell; experimental researches in biology. Cells; Shock; Irritability. NATURAL RESISTANCE 179 At first glance these conclusions may appear to be at variance with the results of the author's experiments concerning the breeding of animals. Such, however, is not the case, as the following considerations will show. Supposing that, given an adult man who by right of inheritance is an excellent physical being capable of withstanding without difficulty the rigors of present day civilization, we suddenly transfer him to the Arc- tic regions and fail to equip him with proper clothing or housing to withstand the extreme cold. It is quite obvious that under such conditions the man would rapidly succumb to the intense cold, regardless of the genes he had inherited from his forbears. Again, if after a brief exposure to the intense cold and before death, we were to transfer him back to a more suitable environment, we know, from experience, that regard- less of his genes, the individual would show the results of his unfortunate exposure, and would for a time be susceptible to various maladies, particularly respira- tory infections. In other words, while the genes de- termine one's inheritance, environment determines largely the value of this inheritance to the individual concerned. Further, as shown in the simple example cited above, a relatively brief exposure to a distinctly unfavorable environment may so alter one's natural resistance that for a longer or shorter time he is unable to cope with simple variations in an environment to which he is normally relatively resistant. There is no reason why these simple concepts should not be applied to the developing fetus in utero. In other words, regardless of the genes which have been passed on to the fetus by its parents, the immediate environment of the fetus must, to a great extent, de-. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readabili
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