Eozoon we must discern not only a mass of jelly, but a being endowed
with that higher vital force which surpasses vegetable life and also
physical and chemical forces; and in this animal energy we must see an
emanation from a Will higher than our own, ruling vitality itself; and
this not merely to the end of constructing the skeleton of a Protozoon,
but of elaborating all the wonderful developments of life that were to
follow in succeeding ages, and with reference to which the production
and growth of this creature were initial steps. It is this mystery of
design which really constitutes the "profound significance" of the
foraminiferal skeleton.
Another phenomenon of animality forced upon our notice by the Protozoa
is that of the conditions of life in animals not individual, as we
are, but aggregative and accumulative in indefinite masses. What, for
instance, the relations to each other of the Polyps, growing together
in a coral mass, of the separate parts of a Sponge, or the separate
cells of a Foraminifer, or of the sarcode mass of an indefinitely
spread out Cryptozoon. In the case of the Polyps, we may believe that
there is special sensation in the tentacles and oral opening of each
individual, and that each may experience hunger when in want, or
satisfaction when it is filled with food, and that injuries to one part
of the mass may indirectly affect other parts, but that the nutrition
of the whole mass may be as much unfelt by the individual Polyps as
the processes going on in our own bones are by us. So in the case of
a large Sponge or Foraminifer, there may be some special sensation in
individual cells, pseudopods, or segments, and the general sensation
may be very limited, while unconscious living powers pervade the whole.
In this matter of aggregation of animals we have thus various grades.
The Foraminifers and Sponges present us with the simplest of all, and
that which most resembles the aggregation of buds in the plant. The
Polyps and complex Bryozoons present a higher and more specialized
type; and though the bilateral symmetry which obtains in the higher
animals is of a different nature, it still at least reminds us of that
multiplication of similar parts which we see in the lower grades of
being. It is worthy of notice here that the lower animals which show
aggregative tendencies present but imperfect indications, or none
at all, of bilateral symmetry. Their bodies, like those of plants,
are for the most part built up around a central axis, or they show
tendencies to spiral modes of growth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account