66 TWO NEW WORLDS 



transferred to the wick, the flarne descends in its 

 search for food, and develops to its full size when 

 it has secured an adequate supply. It can be 

 "killed" by destroying its most vital organ the 

 part where the solid food is converted into gas. 

 Many flames are " sensitive " to particular sounds. 

 Some even develop a " protective covering," as in a 

 smouldering fire. 



The analogy is so far-reaching that we might 

 describe a flame as a gaseous non-centralised 

 animal were it not for the total absence of any- 

 thing resembling habit or memory. Thus a sensi- 

 tive flame will respond to the same stimulus in 

 the same manner, no matter how often it is applied. 

 It might be urged that the life of a flame is so 

 "strenuous" that the intervals between successive 

 stimuli would have to be excessively short; but 

 this is refuted by the stroboscopic study of re- 

 sponsive flames, which shows a practically instan- 

 taneous and uniform response. 



The flame has no cellular structure, and there- 

 fore no organisation. Even if it is regarded as 

 consisting of a single cell, it differs from the 

 amoeba in possessing no nucleus. Since the fission 

 or fusion of nuclei is the essential feature of all 

 animal reproduction and propagation, we are bound 

 to regard the nucleus as the repository of the 

 animal's "experience," ready to hand it on to 

 posterity. The simultaneous absence of memory 



