THE THRESHOLD OF EVOLUTION. 
147 
body, called Plastidnles , displace each other, change their relative 
positions, and thus effect a change in the position of the colour- 
ing particles. This change of position proves positively that a 
hidden structure does not exist.' This, Hnockel affirms, 4 is a 
crushing answer to the assertion that their organization is so 
minute that in consequence of the inadequate magnifying power 
of our glasses it is invisible/* 
It will be shown hereafter that the ‘ crushing answer ’ re- 
ferred to by Haeckel is, in reality, no answer at all, inasmuch 
as a careful comparison of his descriptions and of the evidence 
furnished by his figures of the most typical Monera, suffice 
to prove that their body-substance is not homogeneous, even 
when seen under a very low magnifying power ; but, on the 
contrar}^, consists of the usual pure basal protoplasm, thickly 
studded with minute granular particles, which are as integral 
a part of its composition, as they are of the protoplasm of every 
true mature Rhizopod without exception. But even were the 
alleged apparent homogeneousness and total absence of anything 
approaching to structure or texture in the protoplasm of the 
Monera a fact, we should be wrong in assuming the non- 
existence of all organization, inasmuch as it has been proved 
beyond all question by those indefatigable microscopists, 
Messrs. Dallinger and Drysdale, that, in a protoplasmic mass 
given off from the body of certain Monads, in which not a 
trace of structure or granularity was at first discoverable under 
the enormous magnifying power of a -^th objective, after the 
lapse of several hours during which the object had not been 
lost sight of for a single moment, numberless extremely minute 
molecules made their appearance, and these proved to be ferti- 
lized germs, inasmuch as they continued to increase in size, and 
after a further lapse of time became developed into the mature 
parent form from which they had originated ; the life- cycle of 
the species having been once more reproduced from the so- 
obtained mature forms. Here, then, we have incontestable 
evidence that germinal particles — i.e., particles of matter — 
quite invisible in the earliest stage of existence, must, never- 
theless, have been present in the protoplasm ; and consequently 
that they must further be regarded as integral and essential 
j factors in the life-cycle of the organisms which gave them 
birth. 
Now, any person examining the figures of P rot amoeba in the 
accompanying- plate (PI. iv. figs. 1, 2, and 3) will at a glance 
perceive that they do not convey the impression of a perfectly 
* For the full text of the above epitome I must refer the reader to the 
, three latest works in which the questions now referred to are discussed, viz. 
Hajckel’s History of Creation , published in 1870, Evolution of Man, 1879, 
and Freedom of Science and Teaching, also in the latter year. 
i 
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