The Savannah morning news., 1903-06-07

principle of the famous theory of the
Gastraea.
1t was first formulated sharply and
decisively by Ernst Haeckel. Springing
from the Greek word Caster" the
stomach) it describes that cup-shaped
animal form whose genesis the reader
has beheld
The "arch- stomach animal we might
call it in plain English.
Haeckel furnished proof that such a
creature with primitive division OF
labor into skin and stomach, must IN
deed have been the arch and root form
of the whole higher animal world in
the gray days of world evolution.
The formation of primitive beings in
to cell communities, cell-clumps or cell
bladders, occurred repeatedly in the
beginning of life. Such cell-clumps
then developed in two wholly different
directions-some in the direction of the
many-celled true plant, the other, in
the direction of the mAny-celled true
animal.
The Characteristic of Animals.
The plant shows no stomach in the
sense of the stomach of the animal.
Even though some higher plants-the
so-called insectivorous plants-pro-
duce juices like the gastrict juices and
digest captured insects, the process
has nothing in common with genuine
stomach and intestinal formation. But
in all animals--with the exception of
only a very few degenerated parasites
the stomach is the most Characters
tic organ, and one that is developed
even where the nervous system still is
lacking.
So the beginning of the stomach, the
appearance in the world of the arch
stomach animal or gastraea, is the
great vital moment in the life history
of the higher animals.
In the family tree of these higher
animals. as Haeckel has worked it out,
the gastraea forms the point of de-
parture for all ramif1cations, all up
ward development. Two main branches
go out from it in the beginning, work
ing out by two different methods, the
mode of life of the cell-cup.
In one. branch the living cup gave
up its swimming life and fastened 1T
self to the ocean bottom with It's low
er, closed side, thus becoming the an
cestor of the animal sponges and the
polyps. In the other branch it con-
tinued to swim or crawl straight ahead
and thus gradually extend itself later
ally. This led finally to a symmet
rical development of both ends. An
: opening appeared at the end opposite
: the cup or mouth.
,, With that opening the cup-creature
became a tube. The intestine had
formed. The creature was worm.
The worm, in turn, became the pri-
; mordial ancestor of the highest ami
mals-the soft creatures, such as mol
lusks; the prickle skins, such as sea
, stars; the articulated animals, such a
crabs. spiders, insects, and the verte-
brates.
And the vertebrate, that began with
the fish. ended in the mammal with
man.
The true, primitive gastraea has not
been discovered yet. But there are
many living forms that stand so hear
the gastraea that Haeckel himself has
felt justified in naming them gas
fraedas," and in a recent work it has
, been possible to publish a plate with
no less than sixteen figures of such
creatures.
Our fresh water polyp belongs to
this group. 1t exists to-day practi-
cally with nothing except skin and
stomach, although it has advanced to
the stationary form of life. Then
there are certain low sponge-lke
forms of animal.
Jean Paul once said very admirably
that the poet begins where a man
discovers that everything that is old
and of everyday" is really wonder
full. In this sense every thinking per-
son should be a poet.
l hope that the reader who has
made this little expedition into the
mystery of life will be conscious that
there is nothing trivial in the light of
knowledge. The stomach, in the gas
traea theory. becomes one of the Won
ders of the wonderland of life.