COMPENSATION. 103 



of changing its place and position, aflbrd, when compared 

 with the provisions for motion in other animals, proofs ol 

 i\ew and appropriate mechanism. Suppose that we had 

 never seen an animal move upon the ground without feet, 

 and that the problem was — muscular action, that is, recipio- 

 cal contraction and relaxation being given — to describe how 

 such an animal might be constructed capable of voluntarily 

 changing place. Something, perhaps, like the organization 

 of reptiles might have been hit upon by the ingenuity of an 

 artist ; or might have been exhibited in an automaton, by 

 the combination of springs, spiral wires, and ringlets ; but 

 tc the solution of the problem would not be denied, surely, 

 the praise of invention and of successful thought : least of all, 

 could it ever be questioned whether intelligence had beon 

 employed about it or not 



