206 MAMMALIAN DESCENT. [Lect. IX. 



Is there anything in the human organism of which 

 it can be said, " See, this is new ? " No ; " it hath 

 already been in the old time that was before us." 



We modern English, I think, ought to be put 

 somewhere between the old Greeks and the ancient 

 Jews in any classification that should be made of the 

 race, according to its mental characteristics. The Jews 

 required a "sign," the Greeks sought after wisdom; we 

 clamorously ask for the former, whilst groping after the 

 latter. It is just possible that with these mental modi- 

 fications the finest and happiest breed of Men may be 

 l)rought into being after the long ages of human evolu- 

 tion, and that the latest birth of science will be that 

 which will satisfy and satiate the longings of this mixed 

 kind of Man. 



I see in every flower, in every insect, that which 

 absolutely transcends, not only the highest human skill, 

 but our utmost efforts of thought and flights of imagina- 

 tion. These insects are highly complex organisms ; but 

 lower organisms are really as wonderful. I spent some 

 of the best years of my life in conjunction with scientific 

 friends in the study of the "Protozoa," or simple primary 

 animal forms, and we found that the apparently simple 

 flesh-stuff" or protoplasm of which these creatures are 

 formed could do such wonders of quasi-architectural 

 growth, as made all our human cleverness but as the 

 cleverness of a speaking Fish or a wise Pig. 



Now the Protozoa end where we begin ; we are 



