The Reenchantment of the World by Morris Berman

Author:Morris Berman [Unknown]
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2011-03-17T07:00:00+00:00

For Bateson, then, it was not the gene, but the pattern or form of an organism which was the crucial element in heredity; and if so, then symmetry must be the key to the lock. The basic facts of his study came from examining segmentation, such as that which occurs in the earthworm. Biologists call this phenomenon "meristic differentiation," the repetition of parts along the axis of an animal. This axial symmetry can be distinguished from the type of radial symmetry displayed by starfish or jellyfish. Both types of symmetry show the continuity of cell generations and behavior we call "hereditary." But whereas the segments of the radially symmetric animals are usually all alike, transversely segmented creatures are capable of a dynamic asymmetry between successive segments -- "metamerism." In other words, anomalies of merism are the result of a disruption of normal functioning, and this leads to variation; but this process is itself normal. Nonrepetitive segmentation, such as occurs in the development of the lobsters claw, falls into this category. For William Bateson the study of metamerism opened the door to a concrete demonstration of the primacy of form over matter, and enabled a systemic understanding of heredity and variation. As such, his work constituted a first step in developing an alternative to chromosome theory. He eventually came to argue that what was transmitted in heredity was not an objective substance, but the power or faculty of being able to reproduce a substance: tendency, disposition, was what was passed on.6

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