Attempt to Subordinate Protista to Cett-Theory 291 



organisms, witli their complex and peculiar structures and 

 life-histories, arc the beginnings of man than that man is 

 the beginning of them." 14 The far-reaching consequences 

 of Dobcll's views, should they prevail, are indicated by his 

 remarks about evolution. "Why should it always be taken 

 for granted that by 'Evolution* is meant Sin upward prog- 

 ress from Proto/oa to Man'? This is only one hypothesis 

 of organic evolution. That evolution of some sort has taken 

 place in living beings 1 regard as certain. But, that evolu- 

 tion of the Haeckelian 'Amoeba to Man' type has not oc- 

 curred I regard as equally certain. We can certainly be- 

 lieve in evolution without believing in this dogma." 15 



General Conclusions From Examination of Knowledge and 



Views as to the Nature of Uni- and Multi-cellular 



Organisms 



We may now ask ourselves, what comes of this some- 

 what extensive examination of the structure and function 

 of the Protista, and of the history of discovery and opinion 

 concerning them? Whatever else comes, I do not see how 

 any open-minded person can escape seeing that the practice 

 of thinking about these small beings as conforming in es- 

 sence to the "simple cell" is unnatural, impedimental of 

 progress in sound knowledge, and ought to be abandoned 

 forthwith. But how abandon a practice based on a general 

 theory which has served to unify so vast a multitude of di- 

 verse and, at first sight, apparently quite isolated facts? 

 That the cell-doctrine applied to the Protozoa has served 

 such a purpose is beyond question. 



The point deserves concrete illustration. There has re- 

 cently occurred in the dinoflagellate collections of the San 

 Diego region an organism so different from any hitherto 

 described as to elicit the exclamation "a remarkable thing!" 

 That Doctor Swe/y, to whom has fallen the task of describ- 



