42 CREATIVE INVOLUTION 



ernments, nuclei so-called, from which radiated net- 

 work and filament for quick response to external im- 

 pact, the present military system in embryo, as it 

 were. The loyalty of the Chromidia to their govern- 

 ments was most marked ; never were a people more 



" eager to do and die, yield each his place to the rest " 



in the common cause. And because of this national 

 spirit the Protista grew in size and strength and soon 

 were able to surround themselves with protective 

 walls which, despite the many aeons that have elapsed, 

 are still standing, hence rivalling the old Roman ones. 

 They also established magazines for the storage of 

 surplus energy, apparently divining the long struggle 

 ahead of them. Oddly enough, these magazines were 

 placed in positions of unstable equilibrium so that 

 the energies of the reactions came into play only 

 when this equilibrium was disturbed. The historian 

 will readily see in this device the origin of the mines 

 which to-day perilize our seas. While no record of 

 their wars is extant, we may be certain they were 

 victorious, for the Protista succeeded in time in col- 

 onising the entire habitable surface of the globe. 



And so it was that the Chromid created beyond it- 

 self, even to the protoplasmic cell! And now my 

 story is begun. 



Spencer would have said that what happened next 

 was due to the gravitating tendency within homo- 

 geneous masses, but since the Protista might easily 



