XXXVI 
BEFORE THE DAWN OF ART 
N a recent paper in the Philosophical Transac- 
tions of the Royal Society of London (1915), 
Mr. Edward Heron-Allen describes the nature of 
the shells in some of the Foraminifera or chalk- 
forming animals, and propounds the theory that 
we cannot ascribe to these unicellular creatures 
anything short of “intelligence.” We need not 
quarrel over words: the important fact which this 
expert observer has brought to light is that these 
relatively simple animals sometimes exhibit con- 
sistent selection in taking to themselves the materials 
used in shell-formation, and that they sometimes 
use this material in a singularly effective manner. 
Most of the Foraminifera make shells of lime, which 
are secreted in the surface layer of the living matter, 
and are often of thrilling beauty. Many of them, 
as every one knows, have entered very considerably 
into the formation of chalk cliffs—deposits on the 
floor of bygone seas; many of them are accumulat- 
ing to-day as Foraminiferal ooze in some of the 
great oceanic abysses. The calcareous shells are 
often exquisite, and one can spend days of joy 
lingering over the beauty feast which they spread 
before us. Wheels and spirals, globes and cones, 
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