652 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



men combination, while others see in it a multitude of such combina- 

 tions ; others, again, regard it as an emulsion or intimate blending of 

 albuminous and fatty particles. For a general biological view of the 

 Moneres this is of subordinate interest; for, however the case may be, 

 the creature is at all events, /rom the anatomical point of view ^ per- 

 fectly simple an organism without organs. It proves incontro- 

 vertibly that life does not depend on the cooperation of different or- 

 gans, but on a certain chemico-physical constitution of amorphous 

 matter on that albuminous substance which we call sarcode or pro- 

 toplasm a nitro-carbon compound in the semi-fluid state. 



Hence, life is not a result of organization, but vice versa. Amor- 

 phous protoplasm gives rise to organized forms. Having already, in 

 previous writings, called attention to the high importance of the Mo- 

 neres from this and other points of view, I can here only refer to those 

 papers. At present I must content myself with pointing out the im- 

 portance of the Moneres in connection with the great question of the 

 origin of life. The oldest organisms, sprung by spontaneous genera- 

 tion (Urzeugung) from inorganic matter, must have been Moneres. 



It is precisely the general importance of the Moneres for the 

 solution of the greatest of biological problems that makes them a 

 stumbling-block and a scandal to the opponents of the doctrine of 

 evolution. These men, of course, take every opportunity to dispute 

 the existence of Moneres, exactly as was done in the case of Eozobn 

 Canadense, the much-disputed oldest fossil of the Laurentian forma- 

 tion. The most experienced and competent students of the class 

 Rhizopoda at their head Prof. Carpenter, of London, and the distin- 

 guished anatomist Max Schultze, of Bonn, deceased are firmly con- 

 vinced that the American Eozoon is a genuine Rhizopod a Polytha- 

 laminm, near akin to Polytrema. I have myself for several years 

 made a special study of Rhizopods. I have minutely examined sev- 

 eral fine preparations of Eozoon made by Carpenter and Schultze, and 

 I have not the slightest doubt that it is a genuine Polythalamium, and 

 not a mineral. 



But, just because of the extraordinary fundamental importance of 

 Eozoun, and because the discovery of that fossil adds several millions 

 of years to the earth's organic history, making the j)rimitive Silurian 

 formations to appear recent by comparison, and rendering a great ser- 

 vice to the doctrine of evolution, therefore it is that the opponents of 

 that doctrine so stoutly aflirm that it is not of organic origin at all, 

 but purely mineral. But as the high importance of Eozoon was placed 

 in its proper light by these unavailing attacks of ill-informed opponents, 

 so is it, too, with the Moneres with or without Bathybius. The true 

 Moneres remain, forming an immovable foundation-stone of the doc- 

 trine of evolution. Kosinos. 



