278 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



logical considerations? There are no vessels in the 

 Actiniae which would convey the products of disinte- 

 grated tissue to these secreting organs. If such products 

 are thrown into the fluid of the general cavity, they will 

 be got rid of as that fluid passes out of the body, with- 

 out undergoing a preliminary secretion in the cells of 

 these convoluted bands. Seeing the disposition of these 

 bands, attached to the membrane called "Mesentery" 

 (Plate III, figs. 2 and 3), on one side, and on the other 

 floating free in the cavity, we detect no means by which 

 the disintegrated products, urea, &c., could reach them. 

 Moreover, the first step in organology must be to deter- 

 mine whether the py^oduct of the organ is present, e. g. 

 ova in ovaries, bile in liver, urea in kidneys, and so on ; 

 and until chemical reagents have detected urea or bile 

 in these convoluted bands, we may rest on the assurance 

 that these bands are neither urinary nor biliary organs. 

 To look for such special organs in so simple an organ- 

 ism, seems to me like seeking for a circulating library 

 in an Esquimaux village. 



The mention of a library carries my thoughts, by 

 an easy transition, to our evening studies. When the 

 labours of the day are over, the microscoj^e is put up, 

 the work-table is quitted, and the delicious calm of 

 candle-light invites us to quiet intercourse with one of 

 the great spirits of the past, or one of their worthy 

 successors in the present. It is well thus to refresh the 

 mind with Literature. Contact with Nature, and her 

 inexhaustible wealth, is apt to beget an impatience at 

 man's achievements ; and there is danger of the mind 



