The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-09-23
Ernst HaeCkeI.
on last Words
on Evolution"
Continued from previous issuol

AAyohOAAOHS ANluB buDSJduCe LndL we
find everywhere as the material foun-
dalton Of the wonders of life?"
Plasm, or protoplasm, is, as Huxley
rightly said thirty years ago, 1.-THE
physical basis Of organic life;" to
speak more precisely, it is a chemical
compound OF carbon that alone &C.
composites the various processes of
life. In its simplest form the living
cell Is merely soft globule of plasm
containing a firmer nucleus. The in
ner nuclear matter Called cargo
plasm) differs somewhat in chemical
composition from the outer cellular
matter (or cytoplasm); but both sub
stances are composed OF carbon, 0xy-
gen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulphur;
both belong to the remarkable group
OF the albuminates, the heterogeneous
carbonates that are distinguished for
the extraordinary size Of their mole
cules and the unstable arrangement of
the numerous atoms (more than a
thousand) that compose them.
There are, however, still simpler
organisms In which the nucleus and
the body Of the cell have not yet been
differentiated. These are the monera.
the whole living body OF which is
merely a homogeneous particle Of
Dlasm (the chromacea and bacteria)
The well-known bacteria which now
play so important part an the causes
Of most dangerous infectious diseases,
and the agents of putrefaction, fer
mentation, ETC., show very clearly that
organic life is only chemical and
physical process, and not tho outcome
Of mysterious vital force"
We see this still more clearly IN
our radiolaria, and at the same time
they show as Enthusiastically THAI even
psychic activity is such a physico-
chemical process. All the different
functions of their cell-soul, the sense.
perception Of stimuli, the movement
Of their plasm, their nutrition. growth,
and reproduction. arc determined BY
the particular chemical compostticn Of
each Of the 1000 species; and tAsy
have all descended, in virtue OF AdAp.
tation and heredity, from the common
stem-form of the naked, round par
ent-radiolarisn (Actissal.
We may instance, as q pscu1laaay
interesting fact in the psychic LIE Of
the unicellular radiolaria, the extra
ordinary power Of memory in them.
The relative constancy with <Which III ~
1000 species transmit the orderly and
often very complex form Of their pro
tective fiinty structure from genera
tton to generation can only be ex-
planned by admitting in the builders,
the Invisible plasmo-molecules Of the
pseudopodia, a fine plastic senge OF
distance and tenacious recollection
Of the architectural power of their
fathers. The fine, formless plasma-
threads are always building afresh the
same delicate fitnty shells with an ar
ustic trellis-work, and with protec.
tive radiating needle and supports al
ways at the same points Of their sur.
face. The psychologist, Ewald Her.
ing (of Leipsic), had spoken in 1870
OF memory as "a general function of
organized matter" myself had tried
to explain the molecular features of
heredity by the memory OF the plasma-
molecules, in my essay on "The Peri
genesis of the Plastidules" (1S75).
Recently one of the ablest of nv pu-
pills, Professor Richard Semon (of
Munich, 1900, made a profound
study of 'Mneme as the principle Of
constancy in the changes of organic
phenomena" and reduced the mechan-
ical process of reproduction to a
purely physiological base.
From the cell-soul and it's memory
in the radiolaria and other unicellu-
lar protists, we pass directly to the
similar phenomenon in the ovum, the
unicellular starting-point of the indi-
vidual life from which the complex
multicellular frame OF all the his
tona, or tissue-forming animals and
plants. is developed. Even the human
organism is at first a simple nucleated
globule of plasm, about 1-125 inch In
diameter, barely visible to the naked
eye as tiny point. This STENCIL
(cTula) is formed at the moment
when the ovum is fortified, or min
gled with the small male spermato
zoon. The ovum transmits to the
child by heredity the personal traits
OF the mother, the sperm-cell those of
the father; and this hereditary trans.
mission extends to the finest charac-
teristics OF the soul as we'll as of the
body. The modern research as to
heredity, which occupies so much
space now in biological literature. but
was only started by Darwin In 1859,
is directed Immediately to the visible
material processes OF impregnation.
Continued Tomorrow