SCALES, MIRRORS, LEATHERS 



have a complete mantle of scales around them, remain 

 on a lower footing so far as growth and general well- 

 being are concerned." 



" That is because we form wrong judgments of the 

 things of nature when we judge them in our own 

 image, and as if they had feelings like our own, or 

 else by taking into account a few particular examples 

 and leaving the rest out of account. Nature is im- 

 mense; in many ways she goes far beyond our own 

 bounds and limitations. She has resources which we 

 have not, and sometimes have no idea of. We are 

 only too ready to imagine that every vital action has 

 a specialized organ to itself, a tool as it were, judging 

 by our own method of behaviour, for we spend all 

 our industry in trying to devise tools fitted to our 

 purposes. We begin by noticing that a great many 

 fishes have a covering of scales, and this, we suppose, 

 must be a protective covering. Then our minds decide 

 that the two ideas must be closely connected, that of 

 the presence of a scaly covering and that of protection, 

 and finally arrive at the conclusion that one is the 

 necessary corollary of the other. And when we do 

 this, we are simply begging the question. 



"You have seen your scaleless carp: they are as 

 well protected as the rest. You did not find any 

 break or tear in their skin. It is protected by its 

 thickness, by its compactness, by a more abundant 

 secretion of mucus. The creature which has no scales, 

 brought face to face with the environment from which 

 it must secure the elements of its existence, has made 

 the necessary accommodations to circumstances by its 

 own means. It has made the necessary adaptation as 

 its innate condition befitted, and the harmony thus 

 established, although it is not that of the carp with 

 scales, is none the less assured. Extend this reasoning 

 of the scales, continue it further, apply it to every 

 type of organ, every function, every kind of being, 

 and you will find that it always holds good, and that 



I02 



