16 ANIMAL LIFE 



CHAPTER III 



THE ORGANISATION OF ANIMAL LIFE 



THE thought of this abounding animal life brings 

 to mind its multitudinous variety ; the individuality 

 of man ; the personal distinctness of animals, more 

 evident as we grow more familiar with them ; the 

 separation of creatures into kinds or species, marked 

 off one from another by intangible and yet seemingly 

 impassable boundaries ; the mighty gamut of the 

 scale of being. In variety, as in number, animal 

 life witnesses to ungrudgingness. 



Yet this prolific variety is limited by orderly 

 control. Life everywhere displays organisation. In 

 plan, as in execution, this is true of the relationships 

 and also of the bodies of animals. That original 

 ' we ' is no unattached, new thing. We are body 

 and soul of our ancestors. In features, behaviour, 

 and constitution we acknowledge their gifts. Nor 

 does our indebtedness stop there. Brought face to face 

 with our poor relations, the apes and monkeys, we 

 see, but do not acknowledge, remoter ties. The 

 plan and construction of our bodies and of theirs is 

 the same, but we are unwilling to accept this because 

 we are possessed by the idea that they have too little 



