268 HANDS AND FINGERS. 



But it is a curious thing that both Aristotle and Pliny main- 

 tain, that if you lift up. the skin where the eyes ought to be, 

 you will perceive the organs of vision. How could they 

 remove the skin without distinguishing in it the eyes, like 

 black and brilliant beads ? Did they practise anatomy, like 

 their own imaginary mole, without eyes ? The whole matter 

 would be inexplicable if we did not take into account that 

 force of inertia which binds man in chains of iron, in the 

 moral world as well as in the physical. 



To see, to observe; to retrace one's steps, that one may 

 see and observe more distinctly ; is a labour repugnant to the 

 human mind. To create systems, in order that he may pro- 

 claim himself a great doctrinal teacher, is the work which flat- 

 ters man, or the creative power of his imagination. Centuries 

 of effort are needed before he can disentangle himself from 

 his self-woven thrall in presence of the phenomena of nature. 



A striking peculiarity in the mole's structure is his hands, 

 or feet, with their five fingers, or toes, turned outward, and 

 their curious resemblance to the human hand. Few animals 

 exhibit a similar conformation. Everything in the structure 

 of the fore-limbs indicates the animal's burrowing instinct, 

 the length of the bone, which corresponds to the human 

 radius, or fore- arm, the breadth of the hands, and the 

 bend of the arms, which are so fashioned that the elbows 

 project outwardly. 



Does the mole's burrowing instinct lead it in quest of 

 insects or of vegetable roots ? 



