6 DIGESTION AND FOOD. 



water-cells shown at Fig. 1 are unabsorbing membranous sacs, 

 which prove eminently fit for the reception and gradual 

 rendering to the system of the water which is so scanty in 

 the arid sandy plains of Africa. 



PKEHENSION OF FOOD. According to the mode of life for 

 which an animal has been formed, we observe a variety in 

 the arrangement of parts destined to gather food. Man grasps 

 with a prehensile hand, and so distinctive is this property, 

 that the nearest allied animal the ape is distinguished by 

 the imperfect thumb as well as the opposing big toe. The 

 latter indicates that the monkey is not destined for the same 

 erect posture which characterises the human being, and the 

 first points to a special office to be performed in the latter by 

 the grasping palm and fingers, under the guidance of reason. 

 The primary office which the hand instinctively serves in the 

 infant, is to carry food to the mouth. It is this which causes 

 the baby to clutch the breast, and to approach to its lips any 

 object which may be placed in its little hand. Nature pro- 

 vides active prehensile organs should the bulky frame of an 

 animal prevent the ready movements of the head or trunk; 

 thus the elephant, having to pick from the ground, with the 

 disadvantage of a huge body, a short neck, and enormous 

 head, acquires a moveable proboscis with a prehensile sucker. 

 How dexterously he grasps a loaf, and throws it between hia 

 enormous molars. He cannot pump water into his mouth 

 like the horse, or lap it in like the lion or dog, but he sucks 

 it into his trunk, and then blows it into his throat, or over 

 his body to cool the skin scorched by an Asiatic or South 

 African sun. The giraffe has to feed on the tall trees of the 

 tropics, and the tall fore extremities, long neck, small and 

 easily lifted head, with a long prehensile tongue, enable him 

 to live on that which is beyond the reach of most other non- 

 volatile creatures. 



