62 * SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



tentacles of the Terehella and Medusa onglit to be 

 received as indications of life ? Here I get myself 

 into a fix. The thought arises that what I observe in 

 these tentacles is owing to a surj)lus residue of vitality, 

 retained by them, not to any central source of self- 

 renewing vitality, such as the organism possesses ; 

 consequently, inasmuch as these tentacles neither 

 grow, nor reproduce themselves, they fail to fulfil the 

 primary conditions of Life ; in other words, they are 

 not alive, in spite of movements, apparently sponta- 

 neous, during a wdiole week of independent existence. 



In arguing with one's-self, one has always a respect- 

 ful antagonist, to whose objections every attention is 

 given. Having given due attention to myself, I now 

 turn round upon myself, and remark with some em- 

 phasis : Very true ; but you overlook the important 

 fact that in speaking of Life as the triple unity of 

 Nutrition, Eeproduction, and Decay, you are speaking 

 of the ivliole organism ; whereas in the tentacles of 

 Terehella and Medusa, we were considering an organ, 

 not an organism ; and to apply your definition to an 

 organ, would be to deny its vitality altogether. The 

 animal cannot be considered as wantino- in either of 

 the triple terms ; but the very essence of an organ is 

 that it specialises a function — that is to say, takes 

 upon itself to do something for the benefit of the 

 whole animal, in return for which it is absolved from 

 doing many things which the animal must do. In 

 the earliest forms of Life, as in the earliest states of 

 Society, all do everything, each does all. There is 



