70 THE OCEAN WORLD. 



least hesitation, with analogous creations in the vegetable world. 

 Keaumur long contended for the contrary opinion ; but it is only in 

 our day that the animal nature of the coral is satisfactorily esta- 

 blished. The sea anemone may be cited as another striking example 

 of the resemblance borne by certain inferior organisms to vegetables. 

 We hold, then, that we are justified in using the word zoophyte to 

 designate the beings which now occupy our attention. 



We shall not surprise our readers by telling them that the structure 

 of the zoophyte, especially in its inferior orders, is excessively simple. 

 They are the first steps in the scale of animal life, and in them a purely 

 rudimentary organization was to be expected. In these beings true 

 types of animal life the several parts of the body, in place of being dis- 

 posed in pairs on each side of its longitudinal plane, as occurs in animals 

 of a higher organization, are found to radiate habitually round an axis or 

 central point, and this whether in its adult or juvenile state. Zoophytes 

 have not generally an articulate skeleton, either exterior or interior, and 

 their nervous system, where it exists, is very slightly developed. The 

 organs of the senses, other than those of touch, are altogether absent 

 in the greater part of beings which belong to this, the lowest class of 

 the last division of the animal kingdom. 



Several questions arise here : Has the zoophyte sentiment, feeling, 

 perception ? Has it consciousness, sense, sensibility ? The question 

 is insoluble; it is an abyss of obscurity. The coral, or rather the 

 aggregation of living beings which bear the name, are attached to the 

 rock which has seen their birth, and which will witness their death : 

 the infusoria, of microscopic dimensions, which revolve perpetually in a 

 circle mfinitesimaUy small ; the Amoebae, the marvellous Proteus, which 

 in the space of a minute changes its form a hundred times under the 

 surprised eyes of the observer, are, in truth, mere atoms charged with 

 life. Yet all these beings have an existence to appearance purely vege- 

 tative. In their obscure and blind impulse, have they consciousness or 

 instinct ? Do they know what takes place at the three-thousandth 

 part of an inch from their microscopic bodies ? To the Creator alone 

 does the knowledge of this mystery belong. 



It would be foreign to the object of this work to enter into* minute 

 division of the innumerable creatures which swarm on the ocean and 

 on its confines. We shall perhaps best consult the convenience of 



