XXXVI 

 BEFORE THE DAWN OF ART 



IN a recent paper in the Philosophical Transac- 

 tions of the Royal Society of London (1915), 

 Mr. Edward Heron- Allen describes the nature of 

 the shells in some of the Foraminifera or chalk- 

 forming animals, and propounds the theory that 

 we cannot ascribe to these unicellular creatures 

 anything short of " intelligence." We need not 

 quarrel over words: the important fact which this 

 expert observer has brought to light is that these 

 relatively simple animals sometimes exhibit con- 

 sistent selection in taking to themselves the materials 

 used in shell-formation, and that they sometimes 

 use this material in a singularly effective manner. 

 Most of the Foraminifera make shells of lime, which 

 are secreted in the surface layer of the living matter, 

 and are often of thrilling beauty. Many of them, 

 as every one knows, have entered very considerably 

 into the formation of chalk cliffs deposits on the 

 floor of bygone seas; many of them are accumulat- 

 ing to-day as Foramini feral ooze in some of the 

 great oceanic abysses. The calcareous shells are 

 often exquisite, and one can spend days of joy 

 lingering over the beauty feast which they spread 

 before us. Wheels and spirals, globes and cones, 



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