ed 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 the moneron, and is beginning
to appreciate the convenience of parts and organs. It is interesting to
note, in this connection, that while the ordinary cells of the higher
animal body resemble the _monera_ in many ways, still the w