(3O I0 3 



his Physiology, describes nervous action very differently. 

 There conduction is spoken of without a hint of contrac- 

 tion. Of the higher faculties of man I have to speak 

 again ; but let us just ask where, in the case of any 

 pure sensation smell, taste, touch, sound, color is 

 there proof of any contraction ? Are we to suppose 

 that between the physical cause of heat without and the 

 mental sensation of heat within, contraction is anywhere 

 interpolated ? Generally, in conclusion here, while re- 

 minding of Virchow's testimony to the inherent ine- 

 qualities of cell-capacity, let us but, on the question of 

 faculty, contrast the kidney and the brain, even as these 

 organs are viewed by Mr. Huxley. To him the one is 

 but a sieve for the extrusion of refuse : the other thinks 

 ^^Newton's ' Principia' and Iliads of Homer. 



Probably, then, in regard to any continuity in proto- 

 plasm of power, of form, or of substance, we have seen 

 lacuna enow. Nay, Mr. Huxley himself can be ad- 

 duced in evidence on the same side. Not rarely do we 

 find in his essay admissions of probability where it is 

 certainty that is alone in place. He says, for example, 

 " It is more than probable that when the vegetable world 

 is thoroughly explored we shall find all plants in pos- 

 session of the same powers." When a conclusion is 

 decidedly announced, it is rather disappointing to be 

 told, as here, that the premises are still to collect^ " So 

 far" he says again, " as the conditions of the manifes- 

 tations of the phenomena of contractility have yet been 

 studied." Now, such a so far need not be very far ; 

 and we may confess in passing, that from Mr. Huxley 

 the phrase, " the conditions of the manifestations of the 

 phenomena" grates. We hear again that it is " the rule 

 rather than the, exception," or that " weighty authorities 



