FCP-08-MICROSCOPIC LIFE.

MICROSCOPIC LIFE. And one of the most amazing things I have ever studied is the microscopic life in fresh water, such as a fish pond. Of course they are far too small to be seen with the naked eye but it the perfection which is found in these almost unbelievably minute forms of life which amaze one! Not only are they perfectly formed and wonderfully made, but each one is as busy as an ant, doing the work for which they are there, the purification of the water.

It is here we see the animal and the vegetable kingdoms almost merge for there are animals which grow leaves and buds and these buds, in some species, even break off and become their offspring, and there are others in which only females are known and some plants which swim about and catch and eat animals!

There are those which have no organs such as ears, eyes, legs, or mouths, indeed no organs inside or out, (not even a hole in their body), yet they catch and swallow, or absorb, other animals. Stranger still the animal to be consumed can pass into the interior at any point, yet at no place is there an entrance.

I refer here to the Amoeba, the one celled animal, said to be one of the lowest forms of life yet I have watched this thing intelligently escape from what appeared to be a very difficult situation. What would you think of an animal which, after being cut into six separate parts, was able to not only develop the missing organs but also able to produce six complete bodies to carry on as though nothing had happened?

Another blow for evolution for when were these wonderful powers forfeited by a higher creation and, if it be thought they did, why?

One could fill a book recording the wonderful things going on in a pool of water and I have spent many an evening looking at just a teaspoonful. It is a study full of absorbing interest and the minuteness of the this world of microscopic life is beyond the power of the mind to conceive. With a moderately powerful lens the body of water which can be examined could be described thus.

Take a piece of white paper and just barely pierce it with a sharp needle to make the smallest hole which will admit light. That will be many times smaller than the dot of an i on this page.

Imagine how much water could be placed in the hole and that will be our aquarium. It is almost incredible isn’t it?

However, If we magnify it to about 5 cm in diameter, and with the special light, not only the animals but the very organs of their interior can be watched, even the food passing in and going right through the stomach and the means provided for the various animals to perform their special work is nothing short of staggering!

’And the fool has said, in his heart, there is no God.’ Psalms 14:1.

Let me briefly describe one family known as the Rotifer. Firstly, they are provided with one or two, what appears to be, revolving wheels revolving like a windmill, (they are actually a circular series of flexible fins), These fins can be set in motion, or collapsed, at will. They can be swung in any direction and they serve two purposes being used for gathering food and for propulsion. When set in motion they draw everything before them into a vortex and, that which is required for food passes directly into their interior drawn there by another action which also can be set in motion at will, however. by some further unseen means, all particles not required, although speeding into this vortex towards the entrance, can be diverted and swirled away, at the last moment, to one side. At the same time, to prevent the whole body being drawn forward by these propellers until ready, an anchor in the form of a spike is set in the end of the long tail and, to move forward, all that is required is to release the anchor. It presents an almost perfect picture of a plane taking off! The food itself can be seen passing in and being dealt with by a mechanical device which looks like a miniature stone crusher working about 200 rpm and, what I would like you to understand is the marvelous fact that here is just one example of numerous creatures, far too small to be seen with the naked eye, and said to be among the lowest form of life who are provided with the most ingenious devices mind could imagine. Actually a living hydro-plane with its propellers serving a double purpose.

How came these things to be?

There is only one honest conclusion. It is undeniable evidence of an all-wise Creator.

There are many other evidences of design in unusual places one being in the area of the so-called killer-plants and while, no one would suggest that a plant has the brains and intelligence to think and plan, the fact is that each of these plants is equipped with an intelligently designed means of trapping insects which it consumes.

Most of us are able to appreciate the visible working of the things of nature but that which is hidden beneath, the really marvelous and essential things, are hidden from all but a privileged few. The Protein Molecule, an absolute essential to all life is of such a ’fantastically complicated structure’ that a group of scientists at Cambridge spent ten years in unraveling its intricacies. We seldom give a thought to the intricate machinery used between the forest tree and the newspaper which comes from it and, in the same way, we seem almost unaware of the wonderful machinery and process, working twenty four hours a day beneath the surface of a pond, in a flower, or a bird, which are constantly before out gaze. The Virus, which we hear about constantly, is among the smallest of living things, (if it could be called living), because it cannot reproduce itself unaided and therefore it is not living in the true sense. It is apparently lifeless and can be subjected to treatment which would kill any germ, it can be crystalized indefinitely yet, place it in a living cell and, in twenty four minutes it can reproduce itself two hundred times. I see this as one of the items of the ’curse’ of Genesis 3.

Camouflage in nature is another wonderful example of design for a purpose.

I have frogs in my garden which can change from almost white to black taking on the color of the material on which they are squatting. There are crabs which, for protection, fix an anemone to their backs, which most other sea animals shun and. all through nature we see this evidence of camouflage for protection.

There are eels and rays which can generate a powerful electrical charge and disperse it and archer fish, which live in streams are equipped with special vision and have an ingenious device in their ’make-up’ to shoot a jet of water up a meter and bring down a fly or insect from an overhanging branch. The Sonar, or radar system, in numerous forms of bats has long been known but only in recent years has the extent of this ability been realized in the dolphin. It surpasses, in certain respects, a device used by man and is being studied to reveal its secrets and the dolphin, apart from the intelligence we all admire, has a skin lubricant which is most efficient. The spinneret of the spider, through which it can eject and spin a thread of several hundred strands, is a marvel of engineering design and efficiency.

It is not generally known that wasps were the first to make paper pulp from wood, indeed the first paper from wood pulp was actually made from the nests of wasps who have as we examined earlier the formula to make, and the means to inject, an anesthetic to preserve live food for its young. The development of the achromatic camera was only made possible by prolonged study of the human eye which revealed secrets hitherto thought impossible of solving, especially the matter of chromatic aberration.

How many people realize that every one of the hundreds of bones in a human body, or in an animal, are designed for a purpose which is best appreciated by a visit to a museum.

However, even here we can only view the external to our loss for within the hollow bones is a hive of activity. It is here the blood cell factory is continually turning out millions of new blood cells, and storing calcium to build and repair bones if they are damaged.

All authorities agree they are designed for a purpose and are a masterpiece of engineering because it is clearly revealed in the hollow column, the ball and socket, the principle of taper, the web, the hinged joints, and the tendency to the oblong, which doubles or triples its strength.

It all points to one thing. The Work of a Master Designer. The human brain still remains an unsolved mystery.

Sir Charles Sherrington of London writes, ’Despite the advances in medical science we have not yet accumulated more than fragmentary insight into what goes on in the brain which is of unimaginable complexity.’

Professor Wilder Penfield, McGill University, ’Today, even though we are awed and frightened by the intellectual achievements of man’s mind, the mechanisms that make it possible are still unknown.’