630 l'i;iM'KKl)IN<;s OK THE SOCIETY. 



instances of selection of particles would-be a little more convincing if 

 they were less regular, for after all they appeared to be practically the 

 same thing over and over again without real purpose and intelligence as 

 we understood those terms in the case of man. But that was no doubt 

 somewhat a question of individual opinion. In any case he thought it 

 would be admitted that the problem was not completely solved by saying 

 that we were confronted by purpose and intelligence. 



Mr. Maurice Blood said that he only wished to refer to a very tiny 

 point. Did Mr. Heron-Allen believe that the introduction of the 

 particles of heavy minerals and gems into the shells was beneficial ? It 

 would probably be a disadvantage on a bottom of soft ooze, but on 

 clean sand it would undoubtedly bring their density nearer to that of 

 the quartz grains and prevent their being carried away so easily by a 

 gentle current. 



Dr. Shillington Scales congratulated Mr. Heron-Allen on the interest 

 of his paper and on the beauty of the slides accompanying it. Mr. 

 Heron-Allen had devoted a very large portion of his life to the study of 

 the Foraminifera, and he and Mr. Earland had enriched the Journal 

 with many valuable monographs on the subject. It seemed to him, 

 however, that his interest in the subject had led him to claim for the 

 lower animals a portion at least of the intelligence which we are apt to 

 give to the dog. He had to confess to finding a very great difficulty 

 in discussing the point of view which Mr. Heron- Allen had put before 

 the Meeting. It was not easy to realize where he left off and where he 

 began. He did not claim intelligence for a great many of the physio- 

 logical and developmental processes which existed in life. The selective 

 processes of the Foraminifera were elementary compared with the de- 

 velopmental processes of the cells of plants as well as animals. It was 

 difficult to understand why Mr. Heron-Allen should claim intelligence 

 for the one and deny it to the other, or where he drew the line. Many 

 processes could be explained by chemiotaxis, and some of Mr. Heron- 

 Allen's problems with regard to the selection of certain minerals by the 

 Foraminifera might possibly be explained on a similar basis. At a 

 recent meeting a Fellow of the Society had alluded to the nature of 

 crystallization, and had apparently claimed, in all seriousness, an equal 

 degree of intelligence in crystals to that which Mr. Heron-Allen claimed 

 for Foraminifera. 



Mr. Heron- Allen replied that he was very glad to hear what Dr. 

 Shillington Scales had to say, because he really voiced the views of the 

 " Old Guard " which he knew would " never surrender." He said he 

 wanted to know where he (Mr. Heron-Allen) began and where he left 

 off. That seemed to him a very simple matter. He began and left off 

 again as soon as he began ! He simply postulated that the measure of 

 purpose and intelligence which was exhibited by the Protozoa, and 

 reached its highest development in man, was shown by the use of 

 extraneous materials which the creature selects from its surroundings, 

 and which it adapts to a particular purpose. He desired to go no 

 further than that. It is not a question of the survival of the fittest, 

 and there is no question of the adaptations, by which certain plants and 

 certain animals develop certain integral parts of themselves that give 



