STAR-FISH AND SEA-URCHIXS. 281 



five rows of feet would act in antag-onism to one 

 another; for there seems nothinix more to determine 

 either the action or the inaction of one row rather 

 than another. Indeed, if there were any moral 

 philosophers among the Echinoderms, they might 

 point with triumph to the fact of their being able 

 to right themselves as an irrefutable argument in 

 favour of the freedom of the Echinoderm will. " We 

 are in form," they might say, " perfectly geometrical, 

 and our feet-rows are all arranged with perfect 

 symmetry ; therefore there is no reason, apart from 

 the sovereign freedom of our choice, why we should 

 ever use one set of feet rather than another in exe- 

 cuting this important movement." And indeed, I 

 do not see how these Echinoderm philosophers could 

 be answered by any of the human philosophers, who, 

 with less mathematical data and with less physio- 

 logical reason, employ analogous arguments to prove 

 the freedom of the human will. Physiologists, 

 however, would give these Echinoderm philosophers 

 the same answer that they are in the habit of giving 

 to the human philosophers, viz. that although the 

 physiological conditions are very nicely balanced, 

 they are never so nicely balanced as to leave 

 positively nothing to determine which rows of feet 

 — that is to say, which sets of nerves — shall be 

 used. And in this connection I may observe that 

 on making a number of trials it becomes apparent 

 in the case of certain individual specimens that 

 they manifested a marked tendency to rotate 

 always in the same direction, or to use the same set 

 of foot-rows for the purpose of righting themselves. 



