26 THE DOCTRINE OF DESCENT. 
peculiarly formed chalk corpuscles, still perhaps ambigu- 
ous in their nature (the Coccoliths and Rhabdoliths), 
and finally, which is the main point, of an albuminous 
substance which is alive. 
This living slime, the so-called Bathybius, does not 
even exhibit individuality, or the definiteness of a 
separate existence; it resembles the shapeless mineral 
substances, each particle of which bears the character- 
istics of the whole. 
The conception of an organism as a being composed 
of various parts, with various offices or functions, and 
appearing under a definite form gradually developed, is 
in our day so inherent and intuitive, that it is only with 
great exertion that we are able to accommodate our- 
selves to the idea of a living mass either absolutely 
formless and undefined, or defined arbitrarily and acci- 
dentally. Let any one, who either cannot or will not 
do this, pause for a moment to contemplate another 
simple being—for instance, Haeckel’s “ Protamoeba.” 
A small albuminous mass increases by the absorption 
of nutriment, and by the appropriation of matter, until 
it reaches a certain circumference, and then propagates 
itself by spontaneous fission into two equal parts. To 
our means of observation, these and similar beings are 
the simplest organisms devoid of organs. While ac- 
centuating the limits of research as restricted by inade- 
quate means of observation, we maintain the validity 
of Rollet’s retort,’ that our reason cannot properly 
admit such homogeneous organisms, performing all the 
functions of life solely by means of their atomic con- 
stitution; that we are dealing with the still utterly 
unknown structure of the molecules formed by the 
