388 



THE CAT. 



[chap. XI. 



liiglicr order. Slowly tlie Llastoderm is developed — the epiblast 

 becomes furrowed, and the developing matter grows here and there 

 into nervous and muscular tissue. We have then the organs of true 

 animal life, and we arc therefore compelled to conclude that, in a 

 way which defies our powers of observation to detect, that vegetal 

 principle which at first acted has disappeared to give place to a 

 truly animal psyche. But the embryo is, as yet, no cat, neither is 

 it like any other perfect animal. At first it is somewhat like a 

 worm, but afterwards its visceral clefts and arches and the course 

 of its blood current, show affinities (as we shall see in the thirteenth 

 chapter) with the class of Fishes. These conditions disappear, and 

 are succeeded by a structure which, though of a higher nature, yet 

 for a time remains quite unlike that of a cat, and if the matter of 

 its body is not that of a cat, neither can its inner principle be that 

 of such an animal. Change, however, follows on change, till the 

 activity of the principle which is operating (of whatever kind,) has 

 so prepared and modified the living mass, that the embryo comes to 

 assume the shape of a kitten. Simultaneously also, must that prin- 

 ciple of individuation which is proper to the cat, have informed the 

 embryonic structure. 



In the development of the individual therefore, we see a process 

 of singular and surprising change, during which a series of transitory 

 forms successively appear and disappear,* and which by such 



* These "forms" or "principles of 

 individu.ation " must, of course, be con- 

 sidered to he of a different rank and 

 order from those which inform perfect, 

 or fully developed, animals. Tliey are 

 "transitory forms" specially destined 

 for a merely temporary existence and for 

 an end beyond themselves. They have, 

 moreover, an essential relation to the 

 I)arent form which xiroduced them, and 

 which they normally reproduce. 



An embryo taken at any of the earlier 

 stages of development, is certainly an 

 animal of a distinct soi't, but it is an 

 animal of an imperfect nature, and not 

 identical with any of the many kinds 

 which exist permanently and indepen- 

 dently. 



Some readers may object tliat tliey 

 cannot imagine the advent and departure 

 of such immaterial entities ; and lliat 

 allowing that vegetal and animal 

 psyches do really exist, it is more easy 

 to imagine one sucli persisting through 

 the whole .series of developmental changes, 

 tlian the succession above represented. 

 Such objectors say what is <piitc tnie, but 

 not to the purpose. It is not our "ima- 

 gination," but our "reason," wliich has 

 to decide .such questions ; for "imagina- 

 tion " is necessarily tied down to sense, 

 and a "soul" of whatever kind is (like 

 all that is immaterial) necessarily imper- 

 ceptible by any of the senses. Facility 



of imagination is here therefore no test 

 of truth, but rather the reverse. 



If, however, function and structuro 

 ever go together as all physiologists will 

 admit, and if the existence of a soul or 

 jirinciple of individuation be ever in any 

 case admitted, how, it may be asked, 

 could an animal psyche co-exist with 

 a merely vegetal organi.sm, or a rational 

 principle be present in a being which 

 has an organisation inferior to that of a 

 worm ? But even the .spermatozoon and 

 the imimpregnated ovum must be ad- 

 mitted (on account of the internal 

 activities they show in their develop- 

 ment and gi'owth) to possess some kind 

 of life. Can, however, a human soul 

 be believed to co-exist with either tho 

 one or the other ? Yet some principle 

 of individuation is present in eacli. Wo 

 have herein then an excellent example ot 

 a succession of principles of dilTcrcnt 

 orders — a succes.sion which cannot bo 

 denied by those; who admit the existence 

 of such entities in any case. There is 

 nothing more repugnant to reason in be- 

 lieving that the conjunction of these ele- 

 ments results in such successive material 

 transformations as prej)arc the advent of 

 the rational psyche by the previous pre- 

 sence of principles of inferior orders, 

 than that their conjunction results in 

 tlie disappearance of the two principles 

 of the ovuni and tho spermatozoon and 



