392 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



in a particular part of that surface (gills or lungs) in the 

 more complex organisms ; nor should we have more diflBculty 

 in understanding how Sensibility, from being common to 

 the whole organism, is handed over to a special structure, 

 which then performs that function exclusively, as the lungs 

 perform that of Respiration, or the muscles that of Contrac- 

 tion. Nay, more : just as animals possessing special organs 

 for Respiration do also, in a minor degree, respire by the 

 general surface, so, according to my obseiTations, it is almost 

 demonstrable that animals possessing a special nervous sys- 

 tem also manifest Sensibility in parts far removed from any 

 nervous filament. In the higher animals this is probably 

 not the case* The division of labom- is more complete. 

 The stomach digests, the glands secrete, the muscles contract, 

 and the nerves feel. Of course, the power is gTeatly increased 

 by this division of labour ; the more complex the organism, 

 the more various and effective each function. In the pregnant 

 language of our most thoughtful poet, — 



" All Nature widens upward. Evermore 

 The simpler essence lower lies ; 

 More complex is more perfect, owning more 

 Discourse, more widely wise." + 



* I say probably, because recent investigations have shown that parts which, 

 in the normal healthy condition, are absolutely insensible, such as tendons, 

 ligaments, the dura mater, and the periosteum, become intensely sensitive in 

 a state of inflammation, and this cannot bo attributed to the nerves. — See 

 Flourens, in Annates des Sciences Naturelles, 1856, IV. Sdrie, vi. 282 ; and 

 compare Dr Inman's work on Spinal Irritation. Further, Mr ToMES has 

 communicated to the Royal Society a paper on the " Soft Fibrils in the Den- 

 tinal Tubes," which shows a sensitive structure, not nervous, m the teeth. 



t Tennyson: The Palace of Art. 



