THE CELL COMMUNITY. i^l 



beginning of creation, as it is usually expressed ? " The 

 answer is very simple. It must have acted just as a man 

 who founds a state or a colou}^ for a given purpose. Let 

 us trace this process in its simplest form, as, for example, 

 may have easily taken place when any of the remote 

 islands in the Pacific Ocean were first peopled. Two South 

 Sea Islanders, a man and a woman, have gone in a boat 

 to fish ; they are overtaken by a storm, carried far away, 

 and at length driven on to a remote island, as yet unin- 

 habited. This " first human pair," remaining isolated, play 

 the parts of Adam and Eve, and produce a numerous pos- 

 terity, thus becoming the parents of the future inhabitants 

 of the island. As they are entirely devoid of all resources, 

 without the many means of support possessed by the 

 founders of states of advanced civilization, the posterity 

 of this uncivilized and isolated pair have first developed 

 as genuine savages. Their only purpose in life for cen- 

 turies has remained as simple as that of the lower animals 

 and plants ; the simple aim of self-preservation and of the 

 production of descendants ; they have been contented with 

 the simplest organic functions, nutrition and reproduction. 

 Hunger and love are their only motives of action. 



For a very long period, these savages, scattered over the 

 whole island, must have aimed at the one single object 

 of self-preservation. Gradually, however, several families 

 collected at certain places, larger communities arose, and 

 now many reciprocal relations -began to arise between 

 individuals ; in consequence, a rude division of labour took 

 place. Certain savages continued to fish and hunt, others 

 began to cultivate the ground, others devoted themselves 

 to religion and medicine, which now began to develop, 



