FOUNDATIONAL AGES 15 



pursued an evolution similar in character to that of primeval 

 animals. One -celled self-sufficing little plants multiplied 

 by splitting into two. Then in some cases the portions of a 

 divided cell remained more or less in connection, and aggre- 

 gates of self-sufficing cells were formed. Then came the spirit 

 of altruism : cells lost their versatility, and passed into 

 various combinations severally charged with distinct and 

 special duties for the benefit of the plant colony as a whole. 

 And under this higher system, roots, stems, and leaves were 

 gradually evolved. 



Long before the Cambrian times, the minute one-celled 

 growths of mixed fungus and algae description, had given 

 rise, no doubt, on two separate lines of evolution, to funguses 

 and algae. From the fungus line it is not supposed that any 

 plants were derived of higher type than funguses. That 

 excursion, therefore, from the primitive fold was not more 

 productive in its way than the Sponge line of evolution in the 

 animal world. 



The minute algae had a momentous part to play. In course 

 of time some of them developed into seaweeds of various 

 kinds ; others, spreading to fresh water, gave rise in time to 

 land-plants. Some of these in the Foundational Ages may 

 weU have reached an organisation not far short of that of 

 liverworts. Indeed, from some such stock, some small growths 

 with mixed affinities to ferns, "horsetails," and club-mosses 

 may already have arisen. 



But whatever were the levels reached by Evolution, there is 

 no doubt that life, first manifested on Earth as mere specks 

 of animated matter, made great advances in the course of 

 the long-lasting Foundational Ages. The Cambrian world, 

 therefore, meets us, not as a sudden creation, but as the 

 outcome of millions of years of ceaseless evolution. 



