54 THE UNIVERSE. 



drinking goblet. To such a colossal vase the imagination 

 of the sailor could only give one name, that of the re- 

 doubtable god of the sea ; this living vase is the Cup of 

 Neptune ! 



I never see one of these gigantic sponges without hum- 

 bling myself before the wisdom of Providence. This truly 

 monumental structure is erected solely by myriads of 

 Polypi, fragile animals shrunk within their holes, and only 

 half issuing in order to plunge their imperceptible arms 

 into the waves. And who directs and guides the invisible 

 hands of these Polypi, separated from one another, and 

 often a yard apart, so as to give their works such harmoni- 

 ous symmetry ? Who, when the narrow stalk is finished, 

 tells its population that from henceforth they must widen 

 it ? Who tells them when the time is come for hollowing 

 the vase, and when it is the season for thinning its edges 

 and adorning the exterior with elegant ribs ? And lastly, 

 what supreme inspiration teaches a multitude of workmen, 

 so scattered and all caged in their little cells, that they 

 must mould the cup in all its artistic proportions ? 



I can understand the bee building her cell ; I can under- 

 stand her foresight, and how a work can be arranged where 

 all the workmen can see, communicate with, and compre- 

 hend each other ; but I admit that all seems to me incom- 

 prehensible in the architectural work of Neptune's Cup. 

 My mind is overwhelmed and confounded. This magnifi- 

 cent construction is the noblest challenge one can offer the 

 school of materialism. Do the physico-chemical sciences 

 explain how these animals communicate with each other so 

 as to finish their common habitation ? for it is absolutely 



