THE ANCHOR. 



39 



There are other numerous examples, of which any reader, even 

 slightly skilled in botany, need not be reminded, most of them 

 being, in one form or another, modifications of the leaf or the 

 petal, which, after all, are much the same thing. The vine 

 and passion-flower are, however, partial exceptions. 



I may here mention that soon after the failure of the first 

 Atlantic telegraph cable, an invention was patented of a very 

 much lighter cable, enclosed in a tube of india-rubber, and 

 being coiled spirally at certain distances, so that the coils 

 might give the elasticity which constitutes strength. The 

 cable was never made, its manufacture proving to be too 

 costly ; but the idea of lightness and elasticity, having been 

 evidently taken from the spiral tendrils of the bryony, was 

 certainly a good one, and I should have wished to see it tried 

 on a smaller scale than the Atlantic requires. 



As a natural consequence, after the cable comes the Anchor, 

 which in almost every form has been anticipated by Nature, 

 whether it be called by the name of anchor, kedge, drag, 

 or grapnel. 



On the accompanying illustrations are shown a number of 

 corresponding forms of the Anchor, together with a few others, 

 which, although they may not necessarily be used in the 

 water, are nevertheless constructed on the same principle — i.e. 

 for the purpose of grappling. 



One of the most startling parallels may be seen on the right 



ANCIENT ANCHOR, 



SPICULES OF SYNAPTA. 



hand of the illustration, the figure having been drawn from an 

 old Roman coin. On the other side of the same illustration 



