126 The Turtle 



quivering, convulsive movement of the muscles went 

 on. Not only so, but on one occasion only the head 

 and tail were left attached to the shell. Some time 

 had elapsed since the meat had been cut out of the 

 carapace, and no one could have imagined that any 

 life remained in the extremities. But a young Dane, 

 noticing that the down-hanging head had its mouth 

 wide open, very foolishly inserted two fingers between 

 those horny mandibles. They closed, and our shipmate 

 was two fingers short, the edges of the Turtle's jaws had 

 taken them off clean, with only the muscular power 

 remaining in the head. Then another man tried to 

 cut the horny tail off, but as soon as his keen blade 

 touched it on the underside, it curled up and gripped 

 his knife so firmly that it was nearly an hour before 

 the blade could be withdrawn. Yes, the vitality of the 

 Turtle is unique, and but that it has been so firmly 

 established and frequently experimented upon, stories 

 of it would have to be listened to with an utter in- 

 credulity. Signor Redi once cut a Turtle's head off, 

 and noted that it lived for twenty-three days without 

 a head ; and another, whose brains he removed, lived 

 for six months, apparently unconscious that it had 

 suffered any loss. This points to a very low order of 

 being, since such indifference to pain and deprivation 

 of members is characteristic of the lowest organisms. 

 Yet the turtle is a highly developed creature. 



