Complete Fission Research Articles

THE first part of this book deals with changes in form and behaviour of ciliates exposed to agents which increase or decrease the viscosity of the cytoplasm. A wide variety of physical and chemical agents cause similar effects, and, apparently, anything which makes the cytoplasm more viscid tends to inhibit complete fission, so that multinucleate cells are formed. Among other agents, the carcinogenic hydrocarbons can produce this result and thus give rise to clones of abnormal cells. Smaller doses have the opposite effect, and cause increased rate of division, but no recognizable abnormality in the daughter cells. A short review of the literature on abnormality in Protozoa is included. The important point is made that once abnormality has been induced, it may be perpetuated in the absence of the inciting agent. The Problem of Tumours The Application of Blastogenic Agents to Ciliates ; a Cytoplasmic Hypothesis. By J. C. Mottram. Pp. vii + 91. (London: H. K. Lewis and Co., Ltd., 1942.) 7s. 6d. net.