RECAPITULATION 91 



The same thing, within hmits, happens in animals. Animals are symmetric and asymmetric. A good 

 example of a symmetric animal is the five-rayed starfish. In general configuration it greatly resembles a crystal. 

 The body, as a whole, displays the straight-hne and curve formations in combination ; the diverging rays affording 

 an illustration of the former, and the curved surfaces of the rays, of the latter. 



The Aplysia, one of the molluscs, furnishes an example of an asymmetric animal. 



The symmetric animals are in the ascendant. In matters of symmetry they, in not a few cases, resemble 

 crystals. They also resemble dendrites from the fact that, in a great many instances, they branch out in more or 

 less straight lines, as v.dtness the integumentary appendages, and the extremities and travelling organs of animals. 



Animals reveal spiral formations in their bodies, as a whole, and in certain parts of their bodies. The animals 

 inhabiting shells are almost all spiral, and quadrupeds and bipeds have spiral extremities ; these being composed 

 of spiral bones, spiral joints, spiral muscles, &c. The quadrupeds have, in many cases, spiral horns. Both 

 quadrupeds and bipeds have, as a rule, spiral hearts. 



The general configuration of animals is rounded or convex, while the internal arrangements, in the majority 

 of cases, are dendritic, that is, they branch out in straight lines after the manner of trees. This holds true of the 

 blood-vessels, lymphatics, bronchial tubes, nerve cells, &c., in the higher animals. It also holds true of the 

 respiratory, ahmentary, and other systems in the lower animals. 



Animals, Uke plants, are the products of straight-line, curve, circular and spiral formations. The movements 

 in the organic and inorganic kingdoms are also in straight lines, curves, ellipses, circles, and spirals. 



In the physical universe we have examples of straight-line movements when a body flies off at a tangent into 

 space. We have examples of elliptical and rotatory movements in the earth travelling round the sun, and turning 

 upon its axis while so engaged. The spiral movements are seen to advantage in the whirlwind, the water-spout, and 

 the vortices formed by nebulae. 



In plants and animals, the straight, circular, and spiral movements reappear. In plants, straight-hne move- 

 ments are seen in the general circulation, in the upward and downward progress of branches and roots in the process 

 of growth ; in the bifurcation and growth of the stem, branches, leaves, &c. The circular movements are seen 

 in the free ends of plants whose summits revolve ; and the spiral movements in climbing plants which wind round 

 supports, and which have, for the most part, twisted or spiral stems. In animals, straight-line movements are 

 witnessed in the pseudopodia of the Protozoa, which supply the most plastic and direct form of movement, also in 

 the forward movements of worms, slugs, &c. The circular movements are seen in the Rotifera ; the curve move- 

 ments in fishes and snakes ; and the curve and spiral movements in the walking of quadrupeds and bipeds, in the 

 swimming of aquatic birds, and in the flight of insects, birds, and bats. 



In the higher animals, the travelling organs are spiral, both as regards form and function. The same 

 remarks may be made of the viscera of several of them, namely, the ventricles of the heart, the stomach, bladder, 

 uterus, &o. 



As regards both form and movement, plants and animals find their analogues in the physical universe ; the 

 organic kingdom is not separated from the inorganic one, unless in the matter of life. Nor will this, on reflection, 

 occasion surprise. All the elements entering into the formation of living plants and animals come directly or 

 indirectly from the physical universe. They also return to it at death. There is in the universe a store of matter 

 and a store of force, which, humanly speaking, admits neither of increase nor diminution. The organic and 

 inorganic kingdoms are inseparably united, and there are good grounds for beheving that the life, in building up 

 plants and animals, not only appropriates all the materials employed in the constructive process from the physical 

 universe, but also a considerable proportion of the force which inheres in those materials, and which, strictly 

 speaking, cannot be separated from them. 



If the views now put forth be adopted, most, if not all, the structures and movements with which we are 

 familiar in the organic and inorganic kingdoms fall into hne. They go far to explain how the heavenly bodies are 

 built up, and how they move and wheel in space — in tangents, elhpses, circles, spirals, &c. : how the nebulae, in 

 many instances, form vortices ; how there are eddies and whirlpools in the water ; cyclones or circular storms in 

 the air ; spiral water-spouts and spiral sand-storms on sea and land, &c. They also go far to show how crystals 

 and dendrites are formed in the inorganic kingdom ; how structures, bounded by plane and curved surfaces, are 

 produced in the organic kingdom ; and how straight, curve, circufar, and spiral movements in plants and animals, 

 and parts thereof, are produced. 



Movement at once precedes and follows structure, and the direction of movement in living things is, in every 

 instance, determined by the composition and configuration of the moving parts. 



There are good reasons why atoms and molecules should arrange themselves, and move in straight Unes and 

 in spirals. Straight lines and spirals do not return upon themselves and admit of indefinite extensions, that is, 



