30 THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES n 



so rapid, yet so steady and purposelike in their 

 succession, that one can only compare them to 

 those operated by a skilled modeller upon a form- 

 less lump of clay. As with an invisible trowel, 

 the mass is divided and subdivided into smaller 

 and smaller portions, until it is reduced to an 

 aggregation of granules not too large to build withal 

 the finest fabrics of the nascent organism. And, 

 then, it is as if a delicate finger traced out the line 

 to be occupied by the spinal column, and moulded 

 the contour of the body ; pinching up the head 

 at one end, the tail at the other, and fashioning 

 flank and limb into due salamandrine proportions, 

 in so artistic a way, that, after watching the process 

 hour by hour, one is almost involuntarily possessed 

 by the notion, that some more subtle aid to vision 

 than an achromatic, would show the hidden artist, 

 with his plan before him, striving with skilful 

 manipulation to perfect his work. 



As life advances, and the young amphibian 

 ranges the waters, the terror of his insect con- 

 temporaries, not only are the nutritious particles 

 supplied by its prey, by the addition of which to 

 its frame, growth takes place, laid down, each in 

 its proper spot, and in such due proportion to the 

 rest, as to reproduce the form, the colour, and the 

 size, characteristic of the parental stock ; but even 

 the wonderful powers of reproducing lost parts 

 possessed by these animals are controlled by the 

 same governing tendency. Cut off the legs, the 



