Purpose and Intelligence exhibited by the Protozoa. 551 



Flint and P. rustica H-A. & E.* 6. As " flying buttresses " to 

 keep the animal aperture upwards on the mud, e.g. Nouria harrisii 

 H-A. & E.f 7. As a chevaux-de-frise protection for the aperture 

 only, in large apertured species, e.g. Marsipella cylindrica Brady. 

 8. Spirally, to give a rope-like resistance to fragile cylindrical 

 species, e.g. Marsipella spiralis H-A. & E. Instances might be 

 greatly multiplied, and will be found in the papers already referred 

 to. In my opinion a specialized quality of Purpose and Intelli- 

 gence are revealed by these phenomena. If they depended upon, 

 or resulted from, surface-tension, all the individuals in a dredging 

 would exhibit the same phenomena ; whilst the suggestion that 

 natural selection has resulted in the survival of the fittest is met by 

 the reply that these selective and purposive individuals constitute 

 a marked minority in the dredgings in which they are found. 



It is upon protracted observations of these phenomena that I 

 have been led to formulate the postulates which constituted the 

 Abstract of my " Statement " at Manchester,^ and which are as 

 follows : 



1. That every living organism living a separate and independent 

 existence of its own is endowed with that measure and quality of 

 the faculties of Purpose and Intelligence § which are adapted to, 

 and called forth by the individual needs of that organism. 



* The latter species, building a polyhedral test, selects fragments of spicules 

 of graduated sizes to fill in the " panels " of its house, often ending off an awkward 

 corner with a truncated triaxial sponge-spicule. Such a phenomenon would be 

 of little significance if isolated, but we find it repeated in all the panels of the test, 

 and even in rigidly associated pairs and groups which have no independent power 

 of rolling about and gathering up only what " happens to fit " the spaces to be 

 gradually filled. 



t This animal also lays sharply-pointed curved spicules, with their points 

 turned inwards, at its mouth, to prevent the ingress of parasites, as the inverted 

 twigs of a lobster-pot prevent the egress of the lobster. 



X See Report of the Meeting of the British Association, Manchester, 1915. (In 

 the Press.) 



§ As Haynes has accurately observed in his opusculum quoted further on, 

 " Our human vocabulary is at present most inadequate for discussing problems of 

 this kind." The phrase " Purpose and Intelligence " is anthropomorphic, and 

 therefore unfortunate, but the language provides no other phrase by which the 

 faculties to which I am calling attention can be expressed, the faculties themselves 

 being hitherto but vaguely surmised, and not at all defined. Professor Flinders 

 Petrie, in an as yet unpublished Essay, has suggested the word " Selector " to 

 convey an idea of the quality of purpose and intelligence displayed by un- 

 conscious reason of all grades — its function being to select natural forces to 

 arrive at certain results. I am not inclined at present to regard this as quite a 

 happy phrase. It is probable, however, that some more concrete term may be 

 found as the study of these faculties progresses. The word " Selector " seems to 

 me to suggest a functional impersonality, which conveys an idea of something 

 metaphysical. What we require is a term which shall express an all-pervading 

 quality of Living Matter, however primitive it may be, from the Chlamydozoon to 

 the Calculating Boy, which enables and causes Living Matter to do what is 

 necessary for its protection and adaptation to environment, independently of the 

 quality which we recognize as life. Professor Flinders Petrie allows me to quote 

 the following from his very suggestive and significant Essay : — " The Selectors vary 

 immeasurably. The difference between the highest and the lowest individuals of 



