170 LEAVES FKOM THE 



wards tlie young one was observed still unattached : but 

 in about two hours it had hold of the teat and was 

 actively sucking.* Moreover, Mr. Morgan had detached 

 a mammary foetus about the size of a Norway rat, and 

 after a separation of two hours from the nipple it re- 

 gained its hold, without sustaining any injury from the 

 interruption. The young in a more advanced state has 

 been restored to the mother with success. In Sir Robert 

 Heron's menagerie, an infant kanguroo was found one 

 morning abandoned and nearly dead. The mother was 

 caught, and the young one put into her pouch, where it 

 completely recovered, but the tail was broken. It died 

 soon afterwards. 



But although the pigmy young one has power enough 

 to grasp the nipple, and adhere firmly to it by the mus- 

 cular strength of its lips^ it must not be supposed that it 

 is capable of drawing sustenance therefrom by its unaided 

 efforts. So foetal a rudiment would have been in a sad 

 condition, if it had depended for its supply entirely on 

 its own exertions ; but bounteous Nature has provided 

 the assistance, without which it must have perished. 

 Geoffrey and the lamented Mr. Morgan have both de- 

 monstrated the action of a muscle on the mammary 

 gland, so as to inject the milk into the mouth of the ad- 

 herent suckling. 



Here, again, is an instance of that wonderful adaptation 

 of creative power, which must strike every one not abso- 

 lutely petrified. 



But, it may be objected, you can hardly assert that the 

 young one's efforts of suction should always coincide with 

 the injecting acts of the mother; and you must allow that 

 if at any time there should be no such coincidence, the 

 milk would be injected into the larynx, and so suffocate 

 the foetus. 



* Zool. Journ, vol. v. 



