A Scientific Slaughterer 



the brain and the spinal marrow of the higher 

 animals. 



" You make a grave mistake," our con- 

 gress would say. " The insect is like an in- 

 verted animal, walking on its back; that is to 

 say, instead of having the spinal marrow on 

 the top, it has it below, along the breast and 

 the belly. The operation on the insect to be 

 paralysed must therefore be performed on 

 the lower surface and on that surface alone." 



This difficulty once removed, another 

 arises, equally serious in a different way. 

 Armed with his scalpel, the anatomist can 

 direct the point of his instrument wherever he 

 thinks fit, in spite of obstacles, for these he 

 can eliminate. The Wasp, on the contrary, 

 has no choice. Her victim is a Beetle in his 

 stout coat of mail; her lancet is her sting, an 

 extremely dehcate weapon which would 

 inevitably be stopped by the horny armour. 

 Only a few points are accessible to the fragile 

 implernent, namely, the joints, which are pro- 

 tected merely by an unresisting membrane. 

 Moreover, the joints of the limbs, though 

 vulnerable, do not in the least fulfil the 

 desired conditions, for the utmost that could 

 be obtained by means of them would be a 

 partial paralysis and not a general paralysis 

 47 



