I02 DESIGN IN NATURE 



ment of the physical universe, while no care, or very little, is bestowed on the members of the vegetable an 

 animal kingdoms ; these being, as it were, left to shift for themselves, and to j5ght their own battles, or strugg e 

 for existence. IjOgically, we are bound to conclude that the myriads of tiny rudimentary plants and ammals, as 

 well as the multitude of differentiated, complex organisms, and all the organs and parts thereof, are directly under 

 control and supervision. This alone will explain the mysterious powers exhibited by untold millions of almost 

 invisible low plant and animal forms, and the vegetative functions in the higher animals and in man himself. 



The resemblances between inorganic dendrites, if I may be allowed the expression, as revealed in mmerals, m 

 metals, and in frost and hghtning pictures, and organic dendrites, as seen in the branchings of plant and animal 

 structures, are so very striking and remarkable that I have deemed them worthy of special, and even profuse, 

 illustration. A careful examination and study of the photographs and drawings submitted compel me to believe 

 that the lines of force represented in dendrites and in frost and hghtning pictures correspond in the main with the 

 Unes of growth in plants and animals where subdivision and bifurcation take place. One law obviously controls 

 and shapes inorganic and organic matter, and physical and vital forces. The Uving organic forms resemble the 

 dead inorganic forms to such an extent as to leave no doubt in my mind that both are traceable to the 

 operations of one and the same First Cause. 



The dendrites of minerals and metals, and the frost pictures, so closely resemble plants, and the venation of 

 the leaves of plants, that they might readily be mistaken for them. The dendrites formed by lightning and 

 electric sparks in space and when they touch the human skin, are marvellously tree-Hke in character, and 

 reveal the most exquisite arborescent details and tracery. They bear an extraordinary resemblance not only 

 to the branching of plants but also to the branching of blood-vessels, lymphatics, bronchial tubes, nerve cells, &c. 

 in animals. They are in both cases essentially straight-hne formations. The hghtning and electric spark 

 very specially resemble the branching of the neurons and gangha in the human brain and spinal cord, and 

 display at their bifurcations little subsidiary angular swellings representing discharges or explosions of force which 

 strongly suggests similar discharges on the part of nerve centres in the several parts of the body, as witnessed in 

 normal nerve action and as emphasised in abnormal nerve action, in certain forms of epilepsy. That there are such 

 discharges of nerve force all over the body wherever there are aggregations of nerve-cells, gangUa, and neurons is to 

 me a matter of certainty^ 



§ 20. Resemblances between Crystals, Plants, and Animals : Anomalous Resemblances. 



I have submitted what some will regard as a plethora of illustrations to show that many plants resemble crystals 

 and that many animals resemble both plants and crystals. Other remarkable similarities are to be noted. A large 

 number of fossil corals bear a strildng likeness to basaltic columns as found at StafEa in Scotland, and the Giant's 

 Causeway in Ireland ; they also resemble, in their general outline, the prisms found in the enamel of teeth ; the 

 fasciculi of voluntary muscles ; the hexagonal cells of the honeycomb ; the pigment cells of the choroid coat of the 

 eye, &c. Other corals — the brain coral {Mxandrina cerebriformis), for example, which is a hard skeletal mass — wonder- 

 fully resemble in general appearance the convolutions of the semi-fluid human brain. The fossil tooth of 

 Lahyrinthodon Jaegeri does the same. In this tooth, as a transverse section shows, are concealed not only the general 

 characteristics of the convolutions of the human brain, but many of the details ; the external and internal convolu- 

 tions and the pecuhar markings of the latter can be readily made out. Similarly, the hard skeleton of the sponge 

 known as Venus's flower-basket (Euplectella asjieryillum) reproduces very accurately the intricate spiral arrangements 

 which obtain in the muscular fibres of the ventricles of the heart of the bird and mammal. These can scarcely be 

 regarded as chance resemblances. 



It is difficult to account for the extraordinary simihtude of the brain coral and the transverse section of the 

 tooth of the lahyrinthodon to the convolutions of the human brain. In the case of the brain the convolutions 

 occur in a soft pulpy mass : in the case of the brain coral, in a combined soft and hard mass : in the case of the 

 tooth, in a substance harder than bone. It is not a question of the mere stowing away of material to occupy the 

 least possible space. If the stowing away principle afforded an explanation of the convolutions of the brain within 

 a bony case, it would not explain the formation of the coral free to grow in any direction ; or of the tooth fiee to 

 increase in length and breadth. Moreover, all brains confined within bony cases are not convoluted. There are 

 many intelKgent ammals with no convolutions in their brains. A somewhat similar convoluted arrangement to 

 that witnessed in the brain, brain coral, and tooth is seen in the kidneys, lungs, blood-vessels {rete mirabile), glands, 

 and placenta of certain animals. The folded, convoluted arrangement is common to many structures, and is, in 

 a sense, fundamental. Primarily it increases the available surface of any particular part, organ, or organism : 

 secondly it increases the strength and heightens the function of any particular part, organ, or organism. The 



