NATURE AND CONDITIONS OF LIFE. 13 



as an animal, can do no more than this ; and yet the Foram- 

 inifera attain this end without possessing a single organ of 



Fig. i. Foraminifera. a The animal of Nonionina, after the shell has been removed 

 by a weak acid ; b Gromia (after Schultze), showing the shell surrounded by a 

 network of filaments derived from the body-substance. 



any kind. These minute animalcules, therefore, show in an 

 extremely beautiful and instructive manner, that organisa- 

 tion is only a result of life, and not even a necessary result. 

 In other words, we learn that an animal is organised, or 

 possesses structure, because it is alive; it does not live 

 because it is organised. 



c. Light. In one sense light may be regarded as one of 



