ANIMAL PARADOXES. 55 



parted. The zoologist softened, the anatomist was 

 resolved. I had lost a pet, and gained a "prepara- 

 tion." Grief gave way nnder the scalpel. Science 

 dried afflicted eyes. Nay, shall I confess it? Many 

 a time I have had the nnfeelingness to eye a pet with 

 an undertaker's glance, almost wishing it would die, 

 for the sake of its corpse. And when this was the 

 case, you may be sure I bore the announcement of 

 mortality with something of that fortitude displayed 

 by legatees when a choleric old gentleman, or a lady 

 of starched and vigorous virtue, departs this life, leav- 

 ing a trifle in the 3 per cents. 



Death was no finale to me. The closing scene was 

 only the close of an act, after which the curtain rose 

 once more, the drama culminating in interest. A 

 thousand problems assailed the mind ; a thousand 

 strange thoughts arose as I penetrated deeper and 

 deeper into the mysteries of these various organisms, 

 and mused upon their many paradoxes. Here was 

 an animal without a heart ; there, one without a liver 

 — nothing but quantities of hepatic cells distributed 

 along the course of the alimentary canal. Here was 

 an animal breathing by means of his legs ; and here 

 one not breathing at all. Here was a mollusc with 

 its intestine passing through its heart ; here another 

 with teeth in its stomach ; and here an animal (the 

 Physalia) digesting its food before swallowing it — 

 that is to say, performing the act of chymification 

 before the act of deglutition. Here was an animal of 

 two sexes, and here one of no sex at all, — or, more 



