FOIST BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. To account for the beginnings of life we have been compelled to im agine the creation of a primordial microscopic bit of protoplasm. In shape it was drop-like, spherical or oval, its form being due to gravity, as the primary form of all living beings tends by the action of gravity to be round or ovate.
This primordial being had the power of ab sorbing and digesting food, nr the protoplasmic materials round it. and hence of growing; it was contractile and could move automatically, and thus it was adapted for moving through the wa ter, sending out from its body rootlike exten sions or pseudopodia to aid in seizing its fond and in locomotion. A single 'chance' germ (though in nature there is no such thing as chance) would have been sufficient. Such a primordial cell or sphere of protoplasm, by the simple process of self-division, even if not far enough advanced in organization to have a nucleus, may have multiplied itself, and in a few hours even become the parent of thousands of young, while the lapse of a few days would enable it to give birth to millions.
These primordial beings were plastic. Already the earth's surface varied, if not in relative dis tribution of land and sea. in depth, specific grav ity. density. light, and shade, in the nature of the bottom of the primeval sea, and in chemi cal constitution and other physical features.
There would follow migrations and the foundation of new colonies in scattered areas. Adaptation to each new environment would take place, and in the course of time variation would set in and the evolution of higher organisms take place. See EVOLUTION. Consult : Chambers's Encyclopedia, art. "Spontaneous Generation"; Spencer, Princi ples of Biology (New York, 1898-1901) ; Haeckel, The History of Creation (ib., 1876) ; Verworn, General Philosophy (ib., 1899).