248 



RELICS OF PRIMEVAL LIFE 



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substances, it might claim in so far a higher place in 

 the scale of being than we ; and as it is, it can assert 

 equal powers of digestion, assimilation, and motion, 

 with much less of bodily mechanism. 



In order that we may feel, a complicated apparatus 

 of nerves and brain-cells has to be constructed and 

 set to work ; but the Protozoon, without any distinct 

 brain, is all brain, and its sensation is simply direct. 

 Thus vision in these creatures is probably performed 

 in a rough way by any part of their transparent 

 bodies, and taste and smell are no doubt in the same 

 case. Whether they have any perception of sound 

 as distinct from the mere vibrations ascertained by 

 touch, we do not know. Here also we are not far 

 removed above the Protozoa, especially those of us 

 to whom touch, seeing, and hearing are mere feelings, 

 without thought or knowledge of the apparatus em- 

 ployed. We might so far as well be Amcebas. As 

 we rise higher we meet with more differences. Yet it 

 is evident that our gelatinous fellow-being can feel 

 pain, dread danger, desire possessions, enjoy pleasure, 

 and in a simple, unconscious way entertain many of 

 the appetites and passions that affect ourselves. The 

 wonder is that with so little of organization it can do 

 so much. Yet, perhaps, life can manifest itself in a 



