FALSE CONTINUITY. 



a lump of lead, all these seem to be absolutely 

 continuous, to have no intermediate spaces, and 

 not to consist of a multitude of little bits either 

 loosely heaped or firmly cemented together. 



Close observation shows that this obvious 

 impression is erroneous. The wing of a butter- 

 fly or brightly coloured moth, the petal of a 

 geranium or iris, smooth and polished as they 



FIG. 56. DISCONTINUITY: FLOWER PETALS AND SCALES OF MOTH'S 



WINGS. 



seem to the eye, are really built up of separate 

 pieces as a house is of bricks. 



Seen through a microscope, the petal of a 

 flower is found to be constructed as shown at 

 A (Fig. 56), where the round, or rounded, 

 masses are separate coloured cells, with un- 

 coloured spaces between them. B shows the 

 appearance, similarly magnified, of scales from 

 a moth's wing, which in their natural position 

 are arranged all in the same direction, neatly 

 overlapping one another like slates on a house- 

 roof, 



247 



