230 CELL INTELLIGENCE THE CAUSE OF EVOLUTION 



the millions continually carrying food and oxygen, and 

 the millions carrying away waste matter. Think of the 

 millions on guard and duty night and day as superin- 

 tendents and questioning all suspicious characters and 

 killing enemies. Nothing like this order and method can 

 be equaled in the social communities of man. 



We must come back again to the consideration of the 

 ciliated cells that live single separate lives in the water. 

 The following is a description of the actions of those cells 

 by Mr. Binet : 



"In case of the hunter ciliates proper, the mouth is 

 constantly closed. The act of absorbing each object cap- 

 tured is accomplished by the process of deglutition com- 

 parable in every phase to the like process in higher 

 animals. Furthermore, these species feed only upon liv- 

 ing prey, which they capture and entrammel by means of 

 their trichocysts. By this very act they exercise a choice 

 in the selection of food. 



"These hunter-Infusoria are constantly running about 

 in quest of prey; they move rapidly hither and thither, 

 changing their direction every moment, with the part of 

 the body bearing the battery of trichocysts held in ad- 

 vance. When chance has brought them in contact with 

 a victim, they let fly their darts and crush it ; at this point 

 of the action they go through certain manoeuvres that are 

 prompted by a guiding will. It very seldom happens that 

 the shattered victim remains motionless after direct colli- 

 sion with the mouth of its assailant. The hunter accord- 

 ingly, slowly makes his way about the scene of action, 

 turning both right and left in search of his lifeless prey. 

 This search lasts a minute at the most, after which, if not 

 successful in finding his victim, he starts off once more to 

 the chase and resumes his irregular and roving course." 



How do these actions compare with the actions of man 



