120 MAMMALIAN DESCENT. [Lect. IY. 



that whilst the cat has in many respects a ninch more specialised 

 bodily structure than the boy, yet he far outdoes her in the 

 capacity, and energy, and marvellous attributes of his central nervous 

 system. 



Now, returning once more to the Edentata, what do we find ? We 

 find that everything has been done for their safety that could have 

 been done, and yet they have not been safe ; they are fast becoming 

 extinct, and the greatest and noblest of the Order have already been 

 elboAved off the jDlanet. But in the Cat and her relatives, and, above 

 all, in the human race, every danger has been despised ; they have 

 been specialised for conquest, not for passive resistance and cowardly 

 meekness. So that it is very j^robable, that when even Man himself 

 becomes mastered by his surroundings — when Campbell's "last 

 Man " stands and addresses the dying sun, his faithful Cat will be 

 erecting her tail, and softly jDurring at her master's legs, whilst he 

 utters this his last speech. l!^ow, during all the changes and chances 

 of time in which the Edentata have held their ground and kept 

 their place, what is it that has Avrouglit them into such strange, 

 and to us grotesque, shapes — shapes, however, that are very admir- 

 able indeed, when the life and habits of these creatures are considered ? 

 As students of nature the less Ave mystify ourselves with meta- 

 physical speculation the better ; the theologian very properly bids 

 us not to " tread on holy ground." We have, therefore, only to deal 

 with what are called second causes; we are only competent, as 

 biologists, to deal with these. Here, however, on our own ground, we 

 are not tethered or limited. 



Lord Bacon still speaks to encourage us in our research, for he 

 smartly says — " It is good to ask the question which Job asked of 

 his friends : — ' Will you lie for God, as one Man icill do for another, 

 to gratify him V Eor certain it is that God worketh nothing in 

 nature but l^y second causes ; and if they would have it otherwise 

 believed, it is a mere imposture, as it were in favour towards God; and 

 nothing else but to offer to the author of Truth the unclean sacrifice 

 of a lie." 



If it is difficult for any one unused to biological research to imagine 

 how such diverse forms as the Ant-bear, the Sloth, and the Ai'madillo 

 sprang from one common root-stock, and became so diverse in form and 

 habits in answer to the special needs and conditions of each kind. 



