THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 277 



out of the growth of any Protozoon. There would 

 be onl)' a very few conceivable inferences which the 

 highest finite intelligence could deduce as to the 

 development of future and higher animals. He 

 might infer that the foraminiferal sarcode, once in- 

 troduced, might be the substratum or foundation of 

 other but unknown tissues in the higher animals, 

 and that the Protozoan type might continue to 

 subsist side by side with higher forms of living 

 things as they were successively introduced. He 

 might also infer that the elevation of the animal 

 kingdom would take place with reference to those 

 new properties of sensation and voluntary motion 

 in which the humblest animals diverge from the 

 life of the plant. 



It is important that these points should be clearly 

 before our minds, because there has been current of 

 late among naturalists a loose way of writing with 

 reference to them, which seems to have imposed on 

 many who are not naturalists. It has been said, for 

 example, that such an organism as Eozoon ma\' 

 include potentially all the structures and functions 

 of the higher animals, and that it is possible that 

 we might be able to infer or calculate all these 

 with as much certainty as we can calculate an 



