20 FIRST LESSONS IN ZOOLOGY. 



adapted each to its peculiar abiding-place or habitat. The 

 soft shelless kinds live in the mud or on the leaves of plants 

 in quiet pools or lakes; they people drops of water in the 

 gutters of our houses, flourish in the dew-drops by the 

 wayside, in the dampness of moss; while certain monads 

 live in the blood and other fluids of our bodies. Certain 

 venturesome kinds go about more freely in their one-cham- 

 bered shells, while those living on the high seas are protected, 

 from the force of the waves by their many-chambered shells, 

 and there are larger kinds with heavy lime shells, which 

 live on coral-reefs, where they are exposed to the beating of 

 the surf. Everywhere do we find a harmony between the 

 form and mode of life of these humble beings and the 

 world about them. 



From the study of the simplest animals, as well as planes, 

 which are without complicated organs to do special kinds 

 of work, we realize that life is not the result of organiza- 

 tion, but rather the cause of it. 



While we do not, and may never, know what life is, we 

 can yet understand that the protoplasm which forms the 

 bodies of the simplest beings is only the vehicle or mate- 

 rial in and through which the life-forces act. The ulti- 

 mate origin of what we call life is thus far an inscrutable 

 mystery. 



