154 Darwinism and Other Essays. 



out, his skin will digest, and his interior membrane 

 will respire ; he will apparently suffer no discom- 

 posure from this reversed state of affairs. 1 Again, 

 if you put him into a vessel of water, he will in- 

 variably seek that part of it least exposed to the 

 light, thus manifesting a rudimentary sensibility, 

 which in its more developed state, in higher or- 

 ganisms, we call vision. 2 The lower polyps ex- 

 hibit also contractility over their whole body ; 

 and it has been supposed that they also possess, in 

 a diffused condition, the germs of smell, taste, and 

 even hearing. 3 When now we ascend to the verte- 

 brata, we find digestion specialized in the stomach, 

 respiration in the lungs, contractility in the mus- 

 cles, sensibility in the nerves ; taste, smell, hear- 

 ing, and vision, in the mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. 

 This difference coexists with a great increase of 

 power in the several functions. The faculties of 

 the mammal are, as every one knows, far supe- 

 rior to those of the polyp. No one would think 

 of comparing the rudimentary scent of the zo- 

 ophyte with the developed scent of the dog, or the 

 rudimentary sight of the acaleph with the devel- 

 oped sight of the Bosjesman. Vast, indeed, is the 



1 Draper's Human Physiology, p. 501. 



2 Spencer's Psychology, p. 401. 

 Ibid. pp. 394-408. 



