THE PHENOMENA OF ORGANIC NATURE 113 



I think that objection is based upon a misconception of 

 the real relations which exist between structure and 

 function, between mechanism and work. Function is the 

 expression of molecular forces and arrangements no doubt ; 

 but, does it follow from this, that variation in function so 

 depends upon variation in structure that the former is 

 always exactly proportioned to the latter ? If there is no 

 such relation, if the variation in function which follows on 

 a variation in structure, may be enormously greater than 

 the variation of the structure, then, you see, the objection 

 falls to the ground. 



Take a couple of watches made by the same maker, 

 and as completely alike as possible ; set them upon the 

 table, and the function of each which is its rate of going 

 will be performed in the same manner, and you shall 

 be able to distinguish no difference between them ; but 

 let me take a pair of pincers, and if my hand is steady 

 enough to do it, let me just lightly crush together the 

 bearings of the balance-wheel, or force to a slightly different 

 angle the teeth of the escapement of one of them, and of 

 course you know the immediate result will be that the 

 watch, so treated, from that moment will cease to go. 

 But what proportion is there between the structural 

 alteration and the functional result ? Is it not perfectly 

 obvious that the alteration is of the minutest kind, yet 

 that slight as it is, it has produced an infinite difference in 

 the performance of the functions of these two instruments ? 



Well, now, apply that to the present question. What is 

 it that constitutes and makes man what he is ? What 

 is it but his power of language that language giving him 

 the means of recording his experience making every 

 generation somewhat wiser than its predecessor, more in 

 accordance with the established order of the universe ? 



What is it but this power of speech, of recording experi- 

 ence, which enables men to be men looking before and 

 after and, in some dim sense, understanding the working 

 of this wondrous universe and which distinguishes man 

 from the whole of the brute world ? I say that this func- 

 tional difference is vast, unfathomable, and truly infinite 

 in its consequences ; and I say at the same time, that it 

 may depend upon structural differences which shall be 

 absolutely inappreciable to us with our present means of 

 investigation. What is this very speech that we are talking 

 about ? I am speaking to you at this moment, but if you 



