The Savannah morning news., 1903-06-21

SuCn as the discovery OF tne way 20
kindle fire
Man Ate the DiIuvfaI World.
Where is this diluvial world to-day?
Man has eaten it. Fl
This example of the Vertebrates
J practically exhausts almost the whole
problem that arises between man and
all other many-celled organisms. AS
forces on earth besides the vertebrates
only the insects demand consideration.
Man needs little from them, but they
harm him much. SO he is in open.
steady war of destruction with them
everywhere Its end is not doubtful.
And so on. There remains of organ
isms of the land only the many-celled
plant. But man has not had to fight
with the plant. He dwelled with ii
from early times as If il were a be-
| loved younger sister.
Immeasureably more plant than the
animal, II has been changing through
thousands Of years under his hand into
a true, every-improving tool. The
| grass ripens into corn for him, the
creeper of the primeyal forest bears
grapes for him. the rough, gnarled for
est tree changes into a fruit bearer for
him. When this has been continued
for still more thousands of years, ev-
cry blossom. every fruit, every tree
form on earth will be so thoroughly
the work of man that one can hardly
| call 1t conquest" of man any more
The plant will simply have been made
part of the human world; a far differ
ent achievement from that of destroy
| ing the monsters.
A last look. now, into the water
ThNre in the depths still live whole
families and races-the prickle skins
| the sea stars, sponges, poIyps, worms
and others, all represented by myriads
OF individuals. Without question
the actual mastery of the deep sea by
man is only in it's beginning.
Beginning to Win the Sea.
But it begins so thoroughly that
there can be no doubt about his
victory there, either. The great sea
mans power first. A similar war of
extinction was begun against certain
useful fishes, like the herring, al
though man has now assumed the
more ideal position of ruling by
propagating them. The oyster has
been changed into a domestic animal.
as man did with the bee thousands of
years earlier Gradually all civilized
coasts will become such dominions
from which man will reach into the
sea and yoke the salt. waters to his
work
True, the coast is not the high
sea, not the abyss Of the deep water
But over the abyss our steamships
glide in a thousand directions. And
the same century that built the first
| steamship, that measured the ocean
chasms for the same time and discov-
cred the fairy-like animal life down
| there, is forcing culture into the
the depths. 1nl
|, Through the under-seas our tele-
graph cables wind like enormous sea
snakes. In, the coming century the
submarine boats will follow. 1t all
hurls itself along with express speed
in which there is no more pause. Man,
master of the water, as he is of the
land-master OF all multi-celled organ
| isms, master of all his ancestors down
to that lost gastrea, the first stomach,
deep down in the water as in the light
on the earth.
And in the midst of this full tri-
umph-an appalling discovery! our
most hideous living foe has been un-
known to us until within the past
| decade.
| The Last Act of World Drama.
1t is no other than the last act of
that great drama that began many
thousands of years ago when the young
creature, man. faced the world prime
val filled with tertiary and diluvial
monsters, and had to answer the ques-
ton as to what he was going to do.
Three acts-and man had settled with
all his multi-celled ancestors, cousins
and uncles. Now, in the fourth act,
the whole mass of life has been subju-
gated with the exception of this last
corner. And this corner is the world
of the bacillus. the simple primordial
form of all life.
This last battle is so colossal, so
much more immense than all the rest,
that it is by far the most important in
the history of the world. We are in it
| now. But how long will it last? And
is it at all certain who will be the vic
tor?
The attack of the bacilli is a mon
ster attack on the most extravagant
scale.
VIII man win It?
The problem is stated clearly; a CO.
lossal cell community, mani, 800 mill
lions of such cell-communities on the
whole earth-1ghts desperately against
myriads of individual cells that want
to pour into his community. feed on it
and produce poisons to kill 1t.
Now, what does the present phase of
our meteorological knowledge signify?
1t signifies that the war finally has
entered field wherein our cell-com-
munities find new resort.
Cell Against Cell.
The brain, the thought-ceus. have
entered the fight. In that part of our
cell-community nothing was known
of the battle between bacillus and
man until recently. Vast armies of
cells in the human body lave fought,
since the days of the first man,
against the inimical disease and pest
cells. But the brain cells of humanity
took no part in the war.
Now. the brain cells have produced
a science" In a circle of thought
the cell itself is discovered by the
brain cell. Then the bacillus is dis
covered. Its deadly work is recog-
nized. The counter-effects of the
cells of the human cell-community
are preceived. There follows the de-
cision to reach down into the dark
battle
The brain. cells establish themselves
at last as the allies of the other fight
ing cels-with their whole Titanic
power, with their memory" with
their reading eye" that make posi-
BILE study reaching back thousands OF
years. .
That Is the new situation.
Not the small single results here and
there will decide the battle. The
brain cells may err again and often
again about the bacillus aud It's poison
! in individual cases. They may beat
the empty air many times.
But the decisive thing Is that
they have entered the night They
have discovered. They seek no more