matter, or out of inorganic substances, it might claim in so far a
higher place in the scale of being than we; and as it is, it can assert
equal powers of digestion, assimilation, and motion, with much less of
bodily mechanism.
In order that we may feel, a complicated apparatus of nerves and
brain-cells has to be constructed and set to work; but the Protozoon,
without any distinct brain, is all brain, and its sensation is simply
direct. Thus vision in these creatures is probably performed in a rough
way by any part of their transparent bodies, and taste and smell are
no doubt in the same case. Whether they have any perception of sound
as distinct from the mere vibrations ascertained by touch, we do not
know. Here also we are not far removed above the Protozoa, especially
those of us to whom touch, seeing, and hearing are mere feelings,
without thought or knowledge of the apparatus employed. We might so far
as well be Amœbas. As we rise higher we meet with more differences.
Yet it is evident that our gelatinous fellow-being can feel pain,
dread danger, desire possessions, enjoy pleasure, and in a simple,
unconscious way entertain many of the appetites and passions that
affect ourselves. The wonder is that with so little of organization it
can do so much. Yet, perhaps, life can manifest itself in a broader
and more intense way where there is little organization; and a highly
strung and complex organism is not so much a necessary condition of
a higher life as a mere means of better adapting it to its present
surroundings. Those philosophies which identify the thinking mind with
the material organism, must seem outrageous blunders to an Amœba on
the one hand, or to an angel on the other, could either be enabled to
understand them; which, however, is not very probable, as they are too
intimately bound up with the mere prejudices incident to the present
condition of our humanity. In any case, the Protozoa teach us how much
of animal function may be fulfilled by a very simple organism, and warn
us against the fallacy that creatures of this simple structure are
necessarily nearer to inorganic matter, and more easily developed from
it than beings of more complex mould.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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