Every part, or the whole, of the Moneron absorbs food and oxygen—­it is all mouth and lungs.  Every part, or the whole, digests the food—­it is all stomach.  Every part, or the whole, performs the reproductive function—­it is all reproductive organism.  Every part of it senses the impressions from outside, and responds to it—­it is all organs of sense, and organs of motion.  It envelops its prey as a drop of glue surrounds a particle of sand, and then absorbs the substance of the prey into its own substance.  It moves by prolonging any part of itself outward in a sort of tail-like appendage, which it uses as a “foot,” or “finger” with which to propel itself; draw itself to, or push itself away from an object.  This prolongation is called a pseudopod, or “false-foot.”  When it gets through using the “false-foot” for the particular purpose, it simply draws back into itself that portion which had been protruded for the purpose.

It performs the functions of digestion, assimilation, elimination, etc., perfectly, just as the higher forms of life—­but it has no organs for the functions, and performs them severally, and collectively with any, or all parts of its body.  What the higher animals perform with intricate organs and parts—­heart, stomach, lungs, liver, kidneys, etc., etc.—­this tiny creature performs without organs, and with its entire body, or any part thereof.  The function of reproduction is startlingly simple in the case of the Moneron.  It simply divides itself in two parts, and that is all there is to it.  There is no male or female sex in its case—­it combines both within itself.  The reproductive process is even far more simple than the “budding” of plants.  You may turn one of these wonderful creatures inside out, and still it goes on the even tenor of its way, in no manner disturbed or affected.  It is simply a “living drop of glue,” which eats, digests, receives impressions and responds thereto, and reproduces itself.  This tiny glue-drop performs virtually the same life functions as do the higher complex forms of living things.  Which is the greater “miracle”—­the Moneron or Man?

A slight step upward from the Moneron brings us to the Amoeba.  The name of this new creature is derived from the Greek word meaning “change,” and has been bestowed because the creature is constantly changing its shape.  This continual change of shape is caused by a continuous prolongation and drawing-in of its pseudopods, or “false-feet,” which also gives the creature the appearance of a “many-fingered” organism.  This creature shows the first step toward “parts,” for it has something like a membrane or “skin” at its surface, and a “nucleus” at its centre, and also an expanding and contracting cavity within its substance, which it uses for holding, digesting and distributing its food, and also for storing and distributing its oxygen—­an elementary combination of stomach and lungs!  So you see that the amoeba has taken a step upward from