Bibliographical Notices. 



the nutrition of the Starfishes and Annelides may he effected at the 

 expense of the Glohigerince and other low forms of animals is shown 

 by the contents of the stomach of one of the Starfishes when brought 

 to the surface ; the question then is, in what manner are these lower 

 organisms nourished s In endeavouring to find a solution of this 

 problem, Dr. Wallich puts forward a hypothesis which we cannot 

 think to be at all admissible, namely, that as the organisms in 

 question possess the power of " separating carbonate of lime or silica 



from waters holding these substances in solution they may also 



apply the elements not needed for that purpose to the nutrition of 

 their soft parts, especially since the remaining elements are those 

 which, when united, constitute the proteine-compound of which their 

 soft parts are invariably composed." In this Dr. "Wallich thinks that 

 " no exceptional law is invoked ;" but it seems to us that, even if the 

 derivation of mineral elements, such as carbonate of lime and silica, 

 directly from the surrounding water be, as Dr. Wallich considers it, 

 an indisputable fact, it still furnishes us with no analogy to the fixa- 

 tion and combination of the organizable elements into a living body, 

 as the carbonate of lime and silica remain unchanged in their chemi- 

 cal condition ; whilst the analogy supposed to exist with plants is still 

 further from the truth. The very difficulty which this hypothesis 

 is proposed to get over arises from the fact, admitted by Dr. Wal- 

 lich, that plants, which we know to derive their nourishment from 

 inorganic matter, cannot effect the assimilation of the necessary ele- 

 ments without the stimulus of light ; and yet we are to assume that 

 animals, none of which, as far as we know, are capable, under the 

 ordinary conditions of plant-life, of availing themselves of the sur- 

 rounding elements for the nutrition of their bodies, may yet do so 

 under the influence of a total absence of all recognizable stimulus. 

 It appears to us, that in this we have an invocation of a very excep- 

 tional law, and one which involves something very like a creation of 

 force. A statement made by Dr. Wallich, a few pages after the pro- 

 mulgation of the above theory, may perhaps serve partly to explain 

 the apparent anomaly. He says, " it is evident that there is an in- 

 timate association between the Globigerina-deposits and the Gulf- 

 stream ; for wherever we trace the one sweeping across the surface of 

 the ocean, we are almost sure to detect the other resting on the sea- 

 bed ; and when we fail to trace the one, we almost as surely fail to 

 detect the other." This connexion between the Gulf-stream and the 

 deposits of Glohigerince is ascribed by Dr. Wallich to the vast quan- 

 tities of carbonate of lime brought down into it by the great rivers of 

 the American continent. The abundant supply of this salt is con- 

 sidered to be so favourable to the growth of Foraminifera as to cause 

 their abundance along the course of the Gulf-stream. Admitting 

 the force of this argument, may not the influence of the Gulf-stream 

 depend also in part, perhaps chiefly, on the vast numbers of or- 

 ganisms which swarm in its genial waters, and which, sinking to the 

 bottom after death, may furnish the food necessary for the sustenance 

 and multiplication of the inhabitants of the abysses beneath them ? 

 Although constrained to dissent on this point from Dr. Wallich'a 



