26 



so complex as those of Biology, this observation would have 

 confirmed the statements of Siebold, Corda, and O^ren; viz.: 

 that there is a secretion of a poison which enters the wound. But 

 observation alone does not suffice, I bethought me of a simple 

 experiment. With a needle I gently arrested one of these water 

 fleas ; it suddenly sank motionless, remained thus for more than a 

 minute, and then darted off again. Thrice I repeated this act,, 

 and each time with a similar result. Will anyone say the needle 

 had a paralysing power, or a benumbing poison which was secreted 

 when the animal came in contact with it ? And, does not the 

 reader at once recognise in this sudden motionlessness of the 

 animal a very familiar phenomenon ? The spider, the crab, the 

 oniscus, and very many animals ' sham dead,' as schoolboys 

 know, when danger threatens ; these v/ater-fleas ' sham dead ' 

 when the Polype or the needle touches them. I might Imve vested 

 my incredulity on this one experiment, but I confirmed it in other 

 ways. Dropping the larva of a Sphemeon into the phial con- 

 taining the Hydr®, I observed it caught by three different Hydrae ; 

 it did not ' sham dead,' but tore itself away without visible hurt. 

 Nay, I also observed one of those animalculas known as ' paste- 

 eels ' for some time in contact with the teutach of a Hydrse on the 

 stage of a microscope, but, in spite of its having no shell to pro- 

 tect it from poison, it was unhurt by thn contact. Not having a 

 Nais I could not test what Siebold says of it, but what has already 

 been mentioned must, I think, suffice to convince the reader that 

 the current opinion is an error, founded on observatioji nnverified 

 by experiment. It was only by verification according to the 

 demands of inductive scepticism, that the error became obvious." 



A fev/ days after Lewes had written the above extract, he 

 obtained a supply of Naids, and found them, like the other speci- 

 mens before acted upon, to be absolutely unhurt by the contact 

 with the tentacles of Hydra. 



With regard to the power possessed by these ever moving limbs, 

 if one may so call them, of the Hydra, Baker in the History of the 

 Polype writes ; " 'Tis a fine entertainment to behold the dexterity 

 of a polype in the mastering of its prey, and observe with what art 

 it evades and overcomes the superior strength and agility thereof. 

 Many times by way of experiment, I have put a large worm in the 

 very extremity of a single arm, which was instantly fastened on it 

 with its little invisible claspers. ' Then it has afforded me in- 

 expressible pleasure to see the polype poising and balancing the 

 worm, with no less seeming caution and judgment than a skilful 

 angler shows, when he perceives a heavy fish at the end of a single 

 hair line, and fears, it should break away. Contracting the arm 

 that holds it by very slow degrees, he brings it within reach of his 

 other arms, which eagerly clasping round it, and the danger of" 



