Anatomy, Comparative; Embryology, Human; Evolution; Human beings -- Origin
The whole life of these homogeneous globules of plasm consists of
simple growth and reproduction by cleavage. When the tiny particle has
reached a certain size by the continuous assimilation of inorganic
matter, it divides into two equal halves, by a constriction in the
middle. The two daughter-monera that are thus formed immediately begin
a similar vital process. It is the same with the brown _Procytella
primordialis_ (formerly called the _Protococcus marinus_); it forms
large masses of floating matter in the arctic seas. The tiny
plasma-globules of this species are of a greenish-brown colour, and
have a diameter of 1/10,000 to 1/5000 of an inch. There is no membrane
discoverable in the simplest _Chroococcacea,_ but we find one in other
members of the same family; in _Aphanocapsa_ (Fig. 227) the enveloping
membranes of the social plastids combine; in _Glœcapsa_ they are
retained through several generations, so that the little
plasma-globules are enfolded in many layers of membrane.
Next to the Chromacea come the Bacteria, which have been evolved from
them by the remarkable change in nutrition which gives us the simple
explanation of the differentiation of plant and animal in the protist
kingdom. The Chromacea build up their plasm directly from inorganic
matter; the Bacteria feed on organic matter. Hence, if we logically
divide the protist kingdom into plasma-forming Protophyta and
plasma-consuming Protozoa, we must class the Bacteria with the latter;
it is quite illogical to describe them—as is still often done—as
_Schizomycetes,_ and class them with the true fungi. The Bacteria, like
the Chromacea, have no nucleus. As is well-known, they play an
important part in modern biology as the causes of fermentation and
putrefaction, and of tuberculosis, typhus, cholera, and other
infectious diseases, and as parasites, etc. But we cannot linger now to
deal with these very interesting features; the Bacteria have no
relation to man’s genealogical tree.
We may now turn to consider the remarkable Protamœba, or unnucleated
Amœba. I have, in the first volume, pointed out the great importance of
the ordinary Amœba in connection with several weighty questions of
general biology. The tiny Protamœbæ, which are found both in fresh and
salt water, have the same unshapely form and irregular movements of
their simple naked body as the real Amœbæ; but they differ from them
very materially in having no nucleus in their cell-body. The short,
blunt, finger-like processes that are thrust out at the surface of the
creeping Protamœba serve for getting food as well as for locomotion.
They multiply by simple cleavage (Fig. 228).
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