168 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



formation of the human hand, we find first a differen- 

 tiation between the carpus, or wrist, and the meta- 

 carpus, or hand ; next the fingers are difi'erentiated, 

 but, without any division into separate segments — 

 this takes place later ; then we have a separation 

 between the soft and hard parts, the cartilage separ- 

 ating from the plastic mass ; then these cartilages 

 become osseous ; and in the soft plastic mass we dis- 

 tinguish differentiations into muscle, tendon, skin, &c. ; 

 when the single tissues are thus separated we may 

 begin to trace differentiations in the skin, such as 

 the papillae, the secreting glands, and so forth : till, 

 from a homogeneous mass of cells, we have traced the 

 development of that marvellous and complex structure, 

 the human hand. 



Applying this torch to the obscure question of the 

 reproductive system of the Anemones, it at once dis- 

 closes to us that the Anemone, being of a very simple 

 organisation, we shall be wrong if we expect to find 

 in it a high complexity of special organs. Anatomists, 

 indeed, have often neglected such a consideration, and 

 have worried themselves in the search after organs, 

 which a priori were not likely to be present. They 

 have sought for and "discovered'' nerves and ganglia, 

 each discoverer scornfully rejecting the alleged dis- 

 covery of his predecessor, and declaring the nerves 

 were in a totally different locality, while no one ana- 

 tomist could find them anywhere after another. They 

 have worried themselves about the Respiration of the 

 Anemone, not perceiving that Respiration, like Circu- 



