The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-09-22
Ernst HaeCkeI'
on last Words
on Evolution"
CONTINUED from previous issue)

Continued from previous issue)
was led to make a very close study
of these unicellular protists and their
primitive cell-soul thru my research
on the radilaria, a very remarkable
class of microscopic organisms that
float in the sea. / was engaged most
of my time for more than thirty Of the
best years of my life (1S56-S7) in
studying them in every aspect, and if
came eventually to adopt a strictly
Monistic attitude on all the great
questions of biology, owe It for the
most part to my innumerable obserYa-
lions and uninterrupted reflections on
the wonderful vital movements TAT
are disclosed by these smallest All
frailest, and at the same time m6lt
beautiful and varied, of living things.
had undertaken the study of the
radiolaria as kind of souvenir of my
great master, Johannes Muller. He
had loved to study these animals (of
which only a few species were discov-
cred for the first time In the year of
my birth, 1834) in the last years OF
his life, and had in 1855 set up the
special group of the rhizopods (proto-
zoa). His last work, which appeared
shortly after his death (1S5S), and
contained description Of so series
of radiolaria, went with me to the
Mediterranean when / made my first
long voyage in the summer Of
1853. l was so fortunate as to dis
cover about $50 new species of radio
laria at Messina, and based on these
my first monograph of this very in
structive class of protists (1S62) |
had no suspicion at that time that
fifteen years afterwards the deep-sea
finds of the famous Challenger expedi-
ton would bring to light an incalcu-
liable wealth of these remarkable ami
mails. In my second monograph on
them (1SS7), was able to describe
more than 1000 different species of
radiolaria, and illustrate most of them
on 14O plates. have given a selec-
ton of the prettiest forms on ten
plates of my "Art-forms in Nature"
have not space here to go into the
forms and vital movements of thea
radiolaria, of the general import of 4
which my friend, Wilhelm BoIsche, has
given a very attractive account in his
various popular works. l must re-
strict myself to pointing out the gen
eral phenomena that bear upon our
particular subject, the question Of the
mind. The pretty finty skeletons OF
the radiolaria, which enclose and pro-
tect the soft and unicellular body, are
remarkable, not only for their extra
ordinary gracefulness and beauty, but
also for the geometricaI regularity and
relative consistency of their forms. The
1000 species of radiolaria are just as
constant as the 1000 known species
Of ants; and, as the Darwinian Jesuit.
Father Wasmann, has convinced him
self that the latter have all descended
by transformation from a common
stem-form, | have concluded on the
same principles that the 1000 species
of radiolaria have developed from a
primitive form in virtue of adaptation
and heredity This primitive form.
the stem-radiolarian (Actissa) is a
simple round cell, the soft living pros
toplasmic body Of which is dividedM
into two different parts, an inner cen
trail capsule lin the middle of which is
the solid round nucleus) and an outer
gelatinous envelope (calymma) From
the outer surface of the latter, hun
dreds and thousands of fine plasmic
threads radiate; these are mobile and
sensitive processes of the living In
ternal substance, the plasm Tor proto-
plasm). These delicate microscopic
threads, or pseudopodia, are the Gu
rious organs that effect the sensa-
lions (of touch), the locomotion (by
pushing), and the orderly construction
Of the finty house; at the same time.
they maintain the nourishment Of the
unicellular body, by Selling infusoria.
diatoms, and other protists, and
drawing them within the plasmic body.
where they are digested and assimi-
lated. The radiolaria generally repro
duce by the formation OF spores. The
nucleus within the protoplasmic glob-
ule divides into two small nuclei. each
Of which surrounds itself with a GUAM
tty of plasm and forms a new cell.