MICRO-ORGANISMS 



omission of the first and longest chapter in 

 the history of life on earth is parallel to 

 Victor Hugo's views on the people, in- 

 stitutions, and laws of Great Britain based 

 upon his observations of the inhabitants of 

 the Channel Islands, Jersey, and Guern- 

 sey, because they spoke French! 



Considering what the principles of his- 

 tory are, this usual beginning by biologists 

 of the story of life on earth with the late 

 appearance of the multicellular forms, is 

 like a philosophical history of the great 

 American Civil War opening with the 

 year 1861, without a single reference to 

 any of those antecedents which profoundly 

 influenced both the inception and the 

 course of that conflict. 



But the mention of the tubercle bacillus 

 alone suffices to illustrate the importance 

 of the relation of this great kingdom of 

 unicellular life to us. For ages upon ages 

 this mighty micro-organism has waged 

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