ANALOGIES FROM ANIMALS 93 



explains everything human by analogies drawn from 

 the animal kingdom. It goes to the insects to find 

 explanations of human social organizations. It ex- 

 plains man's ferocity by reminding you of the ape 

 and the tiger. The fox and the jackal excuse his 

 cunning. The dog foreshadows his friendliness and 

 reverence. His foresight and care for his family find 

 their prototypes in every branch of the animal king- 

 dom. His marriage customs and family life can be 

 interpreted by studies of the rabbit and guinea-pig, 

 and the differences in character between men and 

 women can be traced back to the vagrant male-cells 

 and plump, quiescent egg-cells of a sea-weed. Human 

 nature is interpreted in terms of protoplasm. 



It is quite true that the whole web of life is in 

 physical and physiological community, but considera- 

 tions drawn from any part of it require so much 

 modification before they can be applied to an}^ other 

 part, that they become merely verbal. Birth and 

 death, sex and reproduction, respiration and nutri- 

 tion are functions common to all forms of life, 

 and their manifestations are limited and condi- 

 tioned by the properties of protoplasm, the living 

 material that forms the tissues of all animals and 

 plants. Human beings can express themselves 

 only through the material of which their bodies 

 are made, and the properties and limitations of 

 this material necessitate a close resemblance among 

 the forms of expression of all kinds of living beings. 

 None the less " All flesh is not the same flesh ; 

 but there is one kind of flesh of men, another 

 of beasts, another of fishes and another of birds." 

 If St. Paul had been an anatomist he could have 



