CHAPTER IV 



MICROBES EAT AND EXCRETE 



To say that every living being, whether plant or 

 animal, must eat in order to exist, is only a truism. 

 Everything that lives must struggle for existence. 

 The struggle expends energy. The energy can be 

 restored only by taking food. Only by eating mi- 

 crobes live and grow. Their manner of taking and 

 assimilating food is peculiar. Fig. 1 represents a 

 particle of food floating near a microbe. Fig. 2 

 represents the particle in contact with the microbe. 

 In Fig. 3 a cavity is formed in the body of the mi- 

 crobe, and the bit of nourishment is partly drawn 

 into it. In Fig. 4 the titbit is entirely enclosed 

 within the body. In Fig. 5 the food is digested 

 and assimilated all but the waste. In Fig. 6 the 

 cavity is again formed and the particle of waste is 

 being thrown out. In Fig. 7 the waste is entirely 

 excreted. The opening is closed up, and the mi- 

 crobe ready for another meal. By this means mi- 

 crobes, like other living beings, grow. Fig. 8 

 represents different stages in the growth of one 

 of these beings from birth to maturity. 



These microbes, having no mouth, extemporize 

 one for the occasion. Having no stomach to digest 

 their food, they form one for that purpose. And 

 having no organs of excretion, they likewise, in the 

 moment of need, form them. 



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