The Savannah morning news., 1903-06-07

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Copyright. 1908, by T. c. McClure).
At some early time, in q. manner that
we do not understand clearly to-day
despite all our study. certain single,
living cel1-beings appeared in the
world.
These creatures, in consisting of
only one cell each, resembled the bac-
terra, amoebes and similar "infusoria"
of to-day in this characteristic.
Each of these cell-beings carried out
all the undertakings of simple life by
itself. 1t moved multiplied Through
primitive fssure), betrayed certain
sensations and took nourishment.
The methods of this nourishment
were different. In one case inorganic,
mineral matter was taken in as we see
it done to-day among the plants; in
the other case. organic stuffs, already
dissolved, were taken in the shape of
other cell-beings, as we see feeding
done to-day among the true animals
Both methods are to be seen to-day
among the bacteria.
Let us remain with those single cells
that already had reached the point of
nourishing themselves as animals" by
conquering other animals and weaker
sing1e-cells and devouring them.
This process of devouring and the
entire process of nutrition in such a
simple being proceeded without any
organ-entirely without stomach or in
testine. Just as no single cell in our
stomachs has a stomach of it's own, so
did that single-cell of the dim past lack
a stomach. 1t surrounded its food with
its whole jelly-1ike cell-body, took it in
whole and digested it whole, something
as a drop of water will swallow a tiny
bit of red color and become permeated
with it till it is red through and
through. We can still see this print
tive mode of feeding in living single
cells of our time.
A PrimOrdiaI Compact.
Then there came the first great adj
vance. The primordial beings, hith-
erto strictly solitary, came together
here and there and formed themselves
into the very simplest forms of GEM
munities.
Let us assume that about a hundred
of such cell-individuals formed
clump. Each of them previously had
moved itself forward in the water by
thin thread, whose flimmering motions
whirled the tiny thing ahead. The
newly formed clump of communistic
cell-creatures also needed such motion.
So, as the cells combine, each protrud-
ed it's little filament-end freely, and be-
fore long the first mutual act of the
clump was to achieve a certain meas
ure of motion, by. which all the fila
ments were swung in even tempo
Thus, at last, the whole clump began
to move in a forward direction.
1t was a simple and natural result of
this mutual act for the clump to ac-
Quire the shape of a bladder. Each sin
gle-cell had to remain in touch with
the outer world for it's own preserva-
ton. Therefore, all of them crowded
TO the surface of the sphere; the inner
portion remained empty and hollow,
and the bladder or hollow sphere was
created.
A cell-community of this kind,
forming a hollow sphere and moving
merrily in the water through the
rhythmic motion of each single-cell. is
not a hypothetical thing, invented for
the purpose of illustration. Such COM
munities live to-day in fresh as we'll
as salt waters.
The single-cell individuals of this
little, fast moving, social bladder did
not cling so hard to it's outer edge
need for nourishment made it manda-
tory. Despite the new and CLOSE COM
munion, each cell still fed for itself.
Each had to fish for it's own nourish-
ment and digest it for itself If
cell had fallen out of the outer circle
into the inner part of the sphere it
would have died miserably from hun
ger.
The Food Problems First Solution.
And now we begin to see how the
food problem reaped the greatest
benefit from this social community.
It lay not only in the fact that the
sphere could reach new feeding places
more quickly, propelled as it was by
united powers. The chief gain lay
in a spontaneous division of labor
Before that. whenever a single-cell
arch-being obtained a choice bit of
food. it would become torpid for a
while. 1t drew its fiament-end in ana
lay still. In the new community. too,
whenever single-cell ate, it would