The Narbonne Lycosa: The Family 



temal perambulator, they briskly pi<i them- 

 selves up, briskly scramble up a leg and make 

 their way to the top. It is a splendidly nim- 

 ble and spirited performance. Besides, once 

 seated, they have to keep a firm balance in the 

 mass; they have to stretch and stifEen their 

 little limbs in order to hang on to their neigh- 

 bours. As a matter of fact, there is no abso- 

 lute rest for them. Now physiology teaches 

 us that not a fibre works without some ex- 

 penditure of energy. The animal, whidi can 

 be likened, in no small measure, to our indus- 

 trial madiines, demands, on the one hand, the 

 reno\"ation of its organism, which wears out 

 with movement, and, on the other, the mainte- 

 nance of the heat transformed into action. 

 We can compare it with the locomotive-en- 

 gine. As the iron horse performs its work, it 

 gradually wears out its pistons, its rods, its 

 wheels, its boiler-tubes, all of which have to be 

 made good from time to time. The founder 

 and the smith repair it, supply it. so to speak, 

 with *plastic food,' the food that becomes 

 embodied with the whole and forms part of it. 

 But, though it have just come from the ei^ine- 

 shopy h IS stiD inert. To acquire the power 

 of movement, it must receive from the stc&er 

 165 



