THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE SPECIES 173 



organism into a number of spores. Fundamentally 

 the two processes are alike : the simple, binary division 

 of the Bacterium is followed at once by growth by 

 accretion, while in brood-formation (the cases of 

 multiple division) the parent cell divides, and then 

 each of the daughter-cells divide, and so on for 

 several generations. After the completion of these 

 divisions the brood-cells grow by accretion to their 

 normal size. It is meaningless, in the light of our 

 previous discussion, to say that the individuality of the 

 mother-cell " is merged in that of the daughter-cells." 

 But we may believe that a Paramcecium possesses 

 some degree of consciousness. Does it possess person- 

 ality — that is, the feeling of isolation from the rest of 

 the universe, and the feeling of oneness with its own 

 past-memory or conscious duration ? If so, its person- 

 ality, when it divides, becomes one with that of its 

 daughter-cells. Or is its personality and conscious 

 past that also of its sister-cells, and also that of the no 

 longer existent mother-cell, and the cell of which this 

 in its turn was a part ? We must remember that such 

 an organism as a Paramcecium shows in its behaviour 

 most of the signs of intelligence ; that the parts into 

 which it divides when it reproduces are equally de- 

 veloped ; and that the process of division may not 

 interrupt the conscious duration of either part. Is 

 there a common personality, or oneness of conscious- 

 ness, of all the organisms of this kind which are 

 descended from the same individual ? 



Reproduction by division, simple or multiple, 

 does not proceed indefinitely in the case of the uni- 

 cellular organisms. Sooner or later there is a limit, 

 and the cell is then no longer able to continue divid- 

 ing. Conjugation then occurs in one of many modes. 

 Essentially two organisms come into contact and 



