The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-09-21
HaeCkeI
on last Words
on Evolution"
Continued from previous issue)

ago by the new methods of psyche
physics By means Of a series Of able
experiments the psychologists, Theo-
dor Fechner and Ernst Heinrich We
Der Of Lepisic, showed that an i'm
portant part of the mental activity can
be measured and expressed in mathe-
NAUTICAL formulate just as we'll as other
physiological processes, such as mus
cular contractions. Thus the laws of
physic control part of the life Of the
soul just as absolutely as they do the
phenomena of inorganic nature. 1t is
true that psychologists has only par
TALLY realized the very high expecta-
| tions that were entertained in regard
to its Monistic significance but the
fact remains that part of the mental
life is just as Internationally ruled by
physical laws as any other natural
phenomena.
Thus physiological psychology was
raised by psychophysics to the rank of
a physical and, in principle, exact sci
ence. But it had already obtained
solid foundations in other provinces
of biology. Comparative psychology
had traced connectedly the long grad
uation from man to the higher ami
mails, from these to the lower, and so
on down to the very lowest. At the
lowest stage it found those remark
able beings, invisible with the naked
eye, that were discovered in stag
nant water everywhere after the in
vention of the microscope lin the
second half Of the seventeenth CEN
tury) and called "infusoria." They
were first accurately described and
| classified by Gottfried Ehrenberg, the
famous Berlin microscopic. In 1888
he published a large and beautiful
work, illustrating on GA folio pages the
whole realm of microscopic life; and
| this is still the base Of all studies OF
the protists Ehrenberg was a very
ardent and imaginative observer, and
succeeded in communicating his zeal
for the study of microscopic organ
isms to his pupils. I still recall with
pleasure the stimulating excur-
sions that made fifty years ago Gin
the summer of 1854 with my teacher
Ehrenberg, and few other pupils
including my student-friend, Ferdin-
and Won Richthofen, the famous geog-
rapher-to the Geological Gardens at
Berlin. Equipped with fine nets and
small glasses, we fshed in the ponds
Of the Geological Gardens and in the
Spree, and caught thousands Of invis-
| ible micro-organisms, which then
richly rewarded our curiosity by the
beautiful forms and mysterious move
ments they disclosed under the micro
scope.
The way in which Ehrenberg ex-
planned to us the structure and the
vital movements of his infusoria was
very curious. Misled by the compari.
son Of the real infusoria with the mi
croscopic but highly organized rotif-
ers, he had formed the idea that all
animals are alike advanced in organ
ization, and had indicated this errone-
GUS theory in the very title of his
work: The Infusoria as Perfect Organ
isms: a Glance at the Deeper Life Of
Organic Nature. He thought he
could detect in the simplest infusoria
the same distinct organs as in the
higher animals-stomach, heart, ovar-
les, kidneys, muscles, and nerves
and he interpreted their psychic life
on the same peculiar principle Of
equally advanced organization.
Ehrenberg's theory of life was en-
tirely wrong, and was radically de-
stroyed in the hour Of its birth (1s3s
by the cell-theory which was then
formulated, and to which he never be-
came reconciled. Once Matthias
Schleiden had shown the composition
OF all the plants, tissues. and organs
from microscopic cells, the last struc-
tural elements Of the living organism.
and Theodor Schwann had done the
same for the animal body, the theory
attained such an Importance that
kolliker and Leydig based on 1t the
modern science Of tissues, or histol.
Iogy, and Virchow constructed his eel.
lular pathology by applying Il to dis
eased human beings. These are the
most important advances OF theoret-
ical medicine. But 1t was still long
time before these microscopic beings
to the cell was answered. Carl The
odor Won Siebold had already main.
tanned lin 1S45) that the real infusoria
and the closely related rhizopods were
unicellar organisms, and had disting.
uished these protocol from the rest
OF the animals. AT the same time,
Carl Naekeli had described the low.
est algae as "unicelular plants" But
this important conception was not
generally admitted until some time
afterwards, especially after ! brought
all the unicellular organisms under
The head Of "protists' Os72), and de.
fined their psychic functions as the
"cell-soul"
Continued Tomorrow