THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ORGANISMS 33 



It is certainly a noteworthy fact that many kinds of crystals, 

 not larger than bacteria, float about in the air as microbes do. 

 And just as a microbe may set up a far-reaching change when it 

 lights on a suitable medium, so a microscopic crystal landing in 

 a solution which is in a properly receptive condition may set up 

 crystallisation. But the differences seem to us to be greater than 

 th3 resemblances; for the minute crystal is but a passive peg to 

 which molecules attach themselves, while the microbe is an active 

 agent that attacks the medium and fills it with its progeny. 



No one wishes to think of living creatures as if they had not 

 antecedents in the non-living world. Science is not partial to 

 Melchizedeks. On the other hand, we hold to the apartness and 

 uniqueness of life. Dr. A. E. H, Tutton begins his fine book on 

 The Natural History of Crystals (London, 1924), by saying that no 

 definition of life has yet been advanced that will not apply equally 

 well to crystals, but we have given reasons for not accepting this 

 statement. The living creature's growth, repair, and reproduction 

 are very different from those of crystals ; life is an enduring activity, 

 persisting in spite of its metabolism; the organism enregisters its 

 experience and acts on its environment; it is a masterful, even 

 creative, agency. The crystal, especially the gem, is a new sjmthesis, 

 compared with the disarray of the dust; the organism is another 

 and on a different line. 



THE INSURGENCE OF LIFE.— It is difficult to find the fit word 

 to denote that quality of irrepressibility and unconquerability 

 which is characteristic of many living creatures. There are some, 

 no doubt, that drift along, but it is much more characteristic 

 to go against the stream. Life sometimes strikes one as a tender 

 plant, a flickering flame; and who can forget that one of the 

 Ephemerides or mayflies has an aerial life of but a single hour! 

 At other times, the impression we get is just the opposite, for 

 the living creature often shows itself tenacious, tough, and dogged. 

 In his admirable Introduction to the Study of Trees (Home Univ. 

 Library, 1927), Dr. Macgregor Skene of Bristol University mentions 

 that three carefully measured stumps of the "big tree". Sequoia 

 gigantea, of California showed rings going back to 1,087, i'i22, 

 and 1,305 years B.C. The actual record for the second tree was 

 2,996 years and for the third 3,197, without allowing for some 

 rings that have been lost in the centre. A specimen of the dragon- 

 tree on Teneriffe is supposed to be 6,000 years old, and a bald 

 cypress near Oaxaca in Mexico, no feet high with a circumference 

 of 107 feet at breast height, is credited with over 6,000 years. As 

 these giants are still standing, their longevity is inferred, whereas 

 that of the felled Sequoias is proved by the ring counts. But, in 

 any case, there is astounding tenacity of life, and, without going 



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