Natural Science News. 



VOL. I ALBION, N. Y., NOVEMBER 16, 1895. No. 42 



Natural Science News. 



A Weekly Journal Devoted to 

 Natural History. 



FRANK H. LATTIN, Editor and Publisher, 

 ALBION, N. Y. 



Correspondence and items o£ interest to the 

 student of any of the various branches of the 

 Natural Sciences solicited from all. 



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What is an Animal? 



CONTINUED. 



Such is a brief description of a 

 sight well known to every student 

 of the microscope, but which, de- 

 spite its familiar nature, can rarely 

 fail to evoke interest and to serve 

 as the exciting cause of a laudable 

 and scientific curiosity. What is 

 this creature which is seen to be 

 represented by its thousands in a 

 drop of hay-infusion? The popu- 

 lar idea that power of motion is 

 the exclusive right of the animal 

 would unhesitatingly declare that 

 the creature falls under the pater- 

 nal care of the zoologist. But the 

 man of science would reply that 

 whilst the Monads, as he terms 

 these creatures, may be animals, 

 he sees no adequate reason, on the 

 other hand, for refusing assent to 

 the statement that they may be 

 plants. Let us try and examine 

 the question somewhat in detail, 

 and place ourselves in the position 

 of a counsel whose aim it is to 

 convince a jury (of readers) of the 

 impossibility of drawing definite 

 distinctions between the animal 

 and plant worlds, or of saying ab- 

 solutely regarding any organism 

 "That is an animal" or "This is a 

 plant. " 



The opposing side begins the 

 trial of the cause by asserting that 

 animals move, whilst plants are 

 fixed, and that because our monad 

 moves, it must therefore be re- 

 garded as an animal. Very good. 

 Let us accept this first point for 

 what it is worth, and judge it on 

 its own merits. Our opponents, 

 it is clear, are keeping the higher 



plants and higher animals exclus- 

 ively in view. But they must re- 

 member that our aim is not merely 

 that of separating the higher ani- 

 mals from the higher plants, but 

 of constructing an absolute defin- 

 ition and idea of an animal and of 

 a plant. If our definitions are to 

 be of any service whatever, they 

 must include in their scope all an- 

 imals and all plants. And as our 

 opponents will readily admit this 

 reasonable demand, we proceed 

 to adduce evidence against their 

 first proposition — namely, that 

 motion is an unfailing character- 

 istic of the animal. Firstly, let us 

 consider whether all animals move, 

 and whether all plants are fixed. 

 What shall you say of the coral- 

 polyps which are not merely root- 

 ed, but which in their strong in- 

 vestments appear to posses solid- 

 ity, in addition to fixation of body? 

 What can be said of the sponges, 

 now proved to be true animals; or 

 of the "zoophytes," which grow 

 rooted and attached from the oys- 

 ter-shells and stones brought up 

 from the depths by the oyster- 

 dredger? And in rddition to these 

 examples of rooted animals, might 

 be mentioned the "sea-squirts" or 

 Ascidians — related somewhat to 

 our shell-fish — the sea-anemones, 

 the Polyzoa or "sea-mats" and 

 many other truly animal forms of 

 by no means the lowest grade. 

 But even if it be said that the 

 sponges, corals, sea-anemones, 

 and sea-squirts are free and active 

 in the young and juvenile stage of 

 their existence, this may be fully 

 met on our side by the mention of 

 the curious fact that not only do 

 many lower plants swim freely 

 about in their young state, but 

 some are actually free-swimming 

 throughout their entire existence. 

 A sea-weed begins life as a little 

 free-swimming speck propelled 

 through the sea by cilia, similar in 

 nature to those of the monad. 

 Other lower forms of plant life, ex- 

 emplified by many microscopic 

 plants that attach themselves to 

 water-weeds, and which are com- 

 posed exclusively of cells, may be 

 seen to liberate the living matter 

 of these cells in the form of little 

 free-swimming particles. Each 

 particle is termed a zoospore by the 

 botanist, and were you to see it 

 swimming side by side with your 

 monad, you would experience ex- 

 treme difficulty in distinguishing 

 between the two organisms — if, in- 



deed, you could separate them at 

 all. And if bodies indistinguish- 

 able from the monads are thus 

 seen to arise from true and un- 

 doubted plants, why may not the 

 monad be a plant? Moreover 

 there is one notable plant which 

 does not appear to be fixed at any 

 period of its existence. Such is 

 the Volvox glob at or or "Globe Ani- 

 malcule," as it was formerly nam- 

 ed, under the idea that it belonged 

 to the animal creation. To see 

 this organism rolling over and over 

 upon itself, in company with the 

 animalcules you have obtained 

 along with it from a stagnant pool, 

 is a sight which goes a very great 

 way in convincing one of the futil- 

 ity of advancing power of motion 

 as a means of distinguishing be 

 tween animal and plant life. Not- 

 withstanding its mobile life, the 

 the Volvox is a true plant, made 

 up of an aggregation of little mo- 

 nads, each of which, like the mo- 

 nad we first saw, has a pulsating 

 space, and two cilia for locomo- 

 tion, but, in addition, containing 

 chlorophyll, or the green-colouring 

 matter found in plants. And it is 

 a noteworthy fact, that the oid 

 division of the infusorian animal- 

 cules, as defined by Ehrenberg, 

 has long since been resolved into 

 a multitude of separate and dis- 

 tinct organisms. Many of the so- 

 called "animalcules" of this ob- 

 server are now known to be mere- 

 ly the locomotive and young stages 

 of lower plants, and some of the 

 "animalcules" of tolerable recent 

 year — such as Volvox itself — have 

 been ascertained to be true plants 

 of adult kind. 



Thus, it may be held as proved, 

 we think, that power of motion 

 per se, is a characteristic of little 

 or no value in drawing lines of de- 

 marcation between the animal and 

 the plant. We may pronounce 

 the same verdict on the distinc- 

 tions which are commonly drawn 

 from form, and from the general 

 shape and configuration of body. 

 Unquestionably, were the higher 

 animals and plants the sole sub- 

 jects of remark, this latter method 

 of separating them would be found 

 efficacious and trustworthy. But 

 recollecting that we must include 

 all animals and all plants in our 

 definition, we see that amongst the 

 lower forms of life there exist 

 many organisms which, as far as 

 mere form and appearance are con- 

 cerned, might belong either to one 



