376 THE WOKLD OF LIFE 



which, in the freedom of the Eocky Mountains, may reach such a 

 size that a man may walk without stooping through the archway 

 made by setting up upon their points tlie shed antlers. 



In the eastern European forests the horns of the red deer 

 reach a w^eight of 74 pounds, while in the recently extinct Irish 

 elk the large, broadly palmated horns sometimes reached an 

 expanse of 11 feet. These remarkable weapons were devel- 

 I oped both for combats between the males and as a means of pro- 

 \ tecting the females and young from enemies. As organic out- 

 growths they are extremely simple when compared with the 

 feathers of the bird or the scales of a butterfly's wing; yet as 

 exemplifying the need for some guiding power, exerted upon 

 the individual cells which carrv out the work with such won- 

 derful precision every year, they are equally striking. The 

 blood, we know, furnishes the materials for every tissue in the 

 body; but here a large mass of bony matter, covered with a 

 thin skin and dense hair, is rapidly built up, to a very definite 

 form in each species; then the skin and hair cease growing 

 and fall away, while the horns persist for nearly a year, when 

 they, too, fall off and are again renewed. 



Concluding Remarks on the Cell-Prohlem 



The very short account I have now given of w^hat is known 

 of the essential nature, the complex structure, and the alto- 

 gether incomprehensible energies of these minute unit-masses 

 of living matter, the cells — so far as possible in the very words 

 of some of the most recent authorities — must, I think, con- 

 vince the reader that the persistent attempts made by llaeckel 

 and Yerw^oru to minimise their marvellous powers as mere re- 

 sults of their complex chemical constitution, are w^holly un- 

 availing. They are mere verbal assertions which prove noth- 

 ing; w^hile they afford no enlightenment wdiatever as to the 

 actual causes at work in the cells leading to nutrition, to growth, 

 and to reproduction. 



Very few of the workers who have made known to us the 



