"tHE COMING OF LIFE 7 



We must never think of the amoeba as a simple, homoge- 

 neous body of uniform substance. It is quite the reverse of 

 this in its granules of nutriment in the most diverse grades of 

 assimilation; in its " formed materials," and its reagents; in 

 its structural arrangements and " cell-organs." It is a whole 

 chemical and physical laboratory whose work we have only 

 begun to understand and appreciate. It is a hive of varied 

 industries. In some respects it is far more wonderful than 

 the body of higher animals, where all this work is distributed 

 and writ large. Its wondrous adaptability enables it to occupy 

 and possess every chink and corner of the world and to meet 

 every emergency. We cannot but feel that such beings have 

 come to stay, that they will surely succeed in the struggle for 

 survival, and existence. They can hold their own. 



We find among the higher protozoa, especially among the 

 tlagellata, groups or colonies of cells; some fixed, some rolling 

 or whirKng through the water. Usually the cells are all 

 practically alike; but in volvox certain of them are entirely 

 devoted to reproduction. The protozoa are forth-putting, 

 building something more than single, solitary cells. This 

 looks promising, as if something quite different, larger and 

 possibly higher might come out of it. 



We find consciousness in the amoeba. Huxley once said 

 that the appearance of consciousness, as the result of the ir- 

 ritation of brain particles, is as inexplicable as the appear- 

 ance of the djin when Aladdin rubbed his lamp in the story. 

 And it looks as if the consciousness of the amoeba might be 

 more like the djin which the fisherman saw slowly emerge 

 from the jar which he had drawn from the sea. It may ex- 

 pand. But in this part of our first chapter our whole living 

 world contains only bacteria, protozoa and algae. All we 

 dare say is that this looks decidedly new, and as if there 

 might be something in it. 



Protoplasm is certainly " a quite peculiar juice." It looks 

 as if it might be a bundle of unrealized possibilities. Says 

 Bergson: ''The resistance of inert matter was the obstacle 

 that had first to be overcome. Life seems to have succeeded 



