IX.] Mr. Buckle's Fallacies. 141 



higher organisms, we call vision.^ The lower polyps 

 exhibit also contractility over their whole body ; and 

 it has been supposed that they also possess, in a 

 diffused condition, the germs of smell, taste, and 

 even hearing.^ When now we ascend to the verte- 

 brata, we find digestion specialised in the stomach, 

 respiration in the lungs, contractility in the muscles, 

 sensibility in the nerves ; taste, smell, hearing, and 

 vision, in the mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. This 

 difference co-exists with a great increase of power in 

 the several functions. The faculties of the mammal 

 are, as every one knows, far superior to those of the 

 polyp. No one would think of comparing the rudi- 

 mentary scent of the zoophyte with the developed 

 scent of the dog, or the rudimentary sight of the 

 acaleph with the developed sight of the Bosjesman. 

 Vast, indeed, is the difference between the hydra, 

 whose body is but one organ, feebly performing 

 several functions, and the elephant, whose body is a 

 community of organs, each powerfully performing its 

 own peculiar function : so vast, that many persons, 

 even after allowing for the accumulated influence of 

 causes which have been in operation for countless 

 ages, are unable to believe that the higher organism 



^ Spencer's Psychology, p. 401. 

 2 Ibid, pp, 394 — 408. 



