Abstract
THIS book, dedicated to his Serene Highness the Prince of Monaco, contains a lively exposition of a heresy, in regard to which the author frankly admits that if some years ago he had seen it stated at the beginning of an essay, he would probably have read no more. The heresy is that, apart from bacteria, all organisms are double, being formed by the association and “emboîtement” of two different kinds of creature. There are partners within every cell, partner-bacteria, which the author calls “symbiotes.” A symbiote is a domesticated micro-organism with two remarkable properties, an extreme plasticity that enables it to adapt itself to the most diverse conditions, and a strong capacity for synthesis. These symbiotic bacteria come in with the food from the extra-organismal environment, and, though the partnership they form is usually indissoluble, they may in certain circumstances rejoin their wild relatives and live an independent life.
Les Symbiotes.
By Prof. Paul Portier. Pp. xx + 315. (Paris: Masson et Cie, 1918.) Price 5 francs.
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Les Symbiotes . Nature 103, 482–483 (1919). https://doi.org/10.1038/103482b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/103482b0
