346 COSMIC nilLOSOPHY. [ft. n 



ceans, the parallel chains of ganglia, which constitute the 

 nervous system of the embryo, unite into a single chain. 



haliitof producing by gemmation a second individual which separated itself 

 at a certain stage of growth, there came a time when such separation became 

 arrested before completion ; so that, instead of a scries of independent orga- 

 nisms, the result was a colony of organisms linked together in a linear chain. 

 Let us observe that by this brilliant explanation the origin of the annuloso 

 type is completely assimilated to the origin of the lowest animal and vegetal 

 types. The primordial type alike of the vegetable and of the animal, is a 

 single spherical or spheroidal cell, which reproduces itself by spontaneous 

 fission. That is, it elongates until room is made for a second nucleus, after 

 which a notch appears in the cell-wall between the nuclei ; and this notch 

 deepens until the old and new cells are quite separated from each other. 

 Now when many such primordial cells are enclosed in a common membrane, 

 so that, instead of achieving a complete separation, they multiply into a 

 jelly-like or mulberry-like mass, there is formed — whether the case be 

 taken in the animal or in the vegetal kingdom — an organism of a type con- 

 siderably higher than the simple cell. There is an opportunity for differently 

 conditioned cells comprised in the same mass to become ditferently modified, 

 and thus to subserve various functions in the economy of the organism. 

 There is a chance for division and combination of labour among the parts. 

 Now the progress achieved when the spheroidal members of an annuloid 

 compound remain partly connected, instead of separating, is precisely similar 

 to this. Among the indubitably compound animals of coelenterate or mol- 

 luscoid type, in which the fission is not arrested, it is but seldom that the 

 individuals stand related to one another in such a way that there can be any 

 need of their severally performing diverse and specialized functions. For 

 instance, among the hydrozoa, each member of the compound can get food 

 for itself, can expand or contract its tentacles in anyway without affecting 

 the general welfare of the compound. But now, if the members of such a 

 compound as the hypothetical primitive annuloid are grouped in a linear 

 series, there must arise a difference between the conditions which affect the 

 extreme members of the series, and the conditions which affect the 

 intermediate members. And consequently there will ensue an advantage to 

 the compound in the struggle for life, if the members, instead of continuing 

 to perform identical functions separately, become sufficiently united to allow of 

 their performing different functions in concert. Hence we obtain the lowest 

 actual type of annuloid, in which the segments are mere repetitions of each 

 other, with the exception of the extreme front and rear segments, which 

 subserve different tunctioiis related to the welfare of the aggregate. 



Viewed in this light, the various great classes of the annulose sub-kingdom 

 beautifully illustrate that progressive coordination of parts becoming more 

 and more unlike one another, which is the chief characteristic of Evolution 

 as displayed in the organic world. In very low annelids, such as the intes- 

 tinal worms, we see hardly any specialization among the parts ; and as we 

 proceed upwards through tne lower types, ending with the myriapoda, we 

 meet with a great but varying number of segments, which show but little 

 specialization save in the head and tail. The same is true in general of the 

 larvas and caterpillars of the higher types. But as we rise to the adult forms 

 of the insect-group — comprising crustaceans, arachnoids, and true insects — 

 we find the number of segments reduced to just twenty. And while thij 

 number remains unvarying, the niodiiications undergone by diffeient seg 



