rH' 



112 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



body 



and 



** 



let us think of the powers of repair possessed by each 

 it is not killed, and an attempt will be made more 

 less effectually to reproduce the lost parts^ just as 



or 



a 



\ 



I its own proper medium wou 

 produce its original symmetry 



Look 



tn 



again at the little polyp of our lakes and ponds— the 



I 



Hydra^ whose individual Life is so dwarfed in com- 



Fig. 2. Hydra viridis in different stages of extension and contrac- 

 tion, reproducing gemmiparously — attached to roots of Duckweed. 

 (Roesel.) 



r 



parison with the Life of its several parts that you may 

 cut it or injure it to almost any extent^ and yet the 

 separate parts will still live ^. It can, in fact, scarcely 



^ It has, moreover, been recently revealed by the experiments ot 

 Haeckel that a similar power of reproduction, previously unsuspected, is 

 possessed by Medusce. Haeckel says : ' My experiments proved that it 

 prevails to an amazing extent in many medusae, especially in those oe- 





/ 



ace of the one 



!i.ilar in ^^^' 

 ..ay destroy' 



do not affect tt 

 the lost part is r^ 

 These also ar 

 Life with w: 

 Vegetable King< 

 thing like that 

 viduation which 

 Mere fragments 

 tings,' or portion 

 organism, are ( 

 to those from 

 'tendency to ir 



'■> the most pe 

 ^"lall indeed, w 



''"ongst anima: 



1 



? '" '^^ fan.il, 



a 



^t:r' 



to 

 Iri 



P^ion of th 



"ge on ,vi,; 



spe 

 '^oniplete 



^^■hich the 



' %n. J 





I 



iri 



^OL. 



I. 



