THE VIBRATORY SENSE 



In Neptune's flock they are supreme, and this superior- 

 ity is their due; everything about them is fitted to 

 ensure it. 



In its behaviour, thus narrowly controlled by 

 environment, the fish exemplifies the harmonious con- 

 dition of a living being and the properties of the life 

 which animates it. This harmony, effected by sensa- 

 tions and the movements which they control, is displayed 

 in continual accommodations, which are made manifest 

 without any disturbing element. The whole organism 

 profits from its surroundings; it enjoys them to the 

 very depths of its being; it perceives, it receives, and 

 it reaps the benefits. Not only does it receive; it 

 gathers up and concentrates into its substance, trans- 

 forming and transmuting them, the various kinds of 

 energy which pervade its world; it uses them to 

 modify its own substance, and renew it continually. 

 Its vital action is of an unequalled intensity, a never- 

 ceasing continuity. Though the fish is lost in the 

 immensity of its environment, it goes beyond it, in 

 spite of its small size, by the greatness of its animation. 



Heat, for example, simply passes through an in- 

 animate environment, but it stays in living bodies, is 

 absorbed there, and is used to maintain them. The 

 fish in its water appears as the centre and the trans- 

 former of matter and energy; and other beings 

 animated by life are, like it, centres and transformers. 

 The flesh is continually drawing from the environment 

 the material substances, food and oxygen, which it 

 uses to build up its structure, to repair the losses 

 caused by fulfilling its vital functions. In the same 

 way, it accepts from it the radiations of energy which 

 are able to bring about this reconstruction; it has 

 machinery which makes it easy for it to take what 

 it needs. It pushes to the highest degree the utiliza- 

 tion of things for its own maintenance. Fighting all 

 the time, it opposes its vigorous littleness to the 

 almost inert hugeness of its surroundings, and, ever 

 277 



