LIVING MATTER 37 



organism there is a division of labour, so that 

 whilst there are many more cells, each of them 

 is capable of doing less work or a lesser variety of 

 work than the single cell of amoeba. We may 

 compare the conditions exhibited by the two to 

 the older and the newer conditions of mechanical 

 labour. In olden days the artisan made the whole 

 of say a watch, nowadays, he makes a pin or a 

 screw and nothing else and knows and perhaps 

 cares nothing about what the pin or screw is for 

 or how it affects the operations of other hands. 



Moreover in the multicellular organism each 

 cell has its own life as well as sharing in that of 

 the whole body. It may have its birth and its 

 death, of both of which the body as a whole is 

 entirely ignorant. 



But whether it is an isolated cell or a member 

 of a cell-congeries, as a part of a multicellular 

 organism, it will exhibit the characteristics dealt 

 with in this chapter, though, of course, in varying 

 degree in accordance with its site and its functions. 



