78 WONDERS OF ORGANIC LIFE. 



cartilaginous Phytozoa. We might here enter 

 very largely into the manifold forms which 

 the zoophytes present ; our aim, however, is 

 only to convey some idea of the general cha- 

 racter of a group of beings within the pale of 

 the animal kingdom, which exhibit a vital union 

 of distinct beings, each of which, acting for 

 itself, contributes to the common good ; for 

 truly in one sense we may consider each polype 

 as a distinct being ; in another sense, as form- 

 ing a part of a compound unity, through which 

 vitality is equally diffused. In these, aggre- 

 gated forms the polypes all labour to one end ; 

 they constitute a community, every individual 

 of which contributes to the sustenation of the 

 general body. But as there are no nerves, they 

 cannot participate in each other's movements ; 

 nor does any stimulus which affects a single 

 polype, influence all the rest at the same time ; 

 if one polype be destroyed, the rest are unaf- 

 fected. In the consideration of these beings, all 

 ideas of life, derived from a study of the higher 

 orders of creation, must be banished. " Dead- 

 ness to pain, yet sensibility to light ; contracti- 

 lity, expansibility, and motion, with muscles ; 

 digestion and nutrition without apparent ab- 

 sorbents or blood vessels ; reproduction by eggs, 

 by simple division, or by bud-like sprouts ; the 

 vital unity of myriads, and yet their personal 

 distinctness — these are characteristics, which 

 surprise the more, the more Ave reflect upon 

 them. When to these characteristics, also, we 

 add those taken from their rude skeletons, their 



