431 



818. — V. ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY DISPROVE THE ATHE- 

 ISTIC HYPOTHESIS THAT THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANIMAL 

 ORGANS IS THE RESULT OF MERE LAW, 



819. The Development Hyp ol lie sis,— This hypothesis sup- 

 poses that the organs were not contrived and constructed by 

 an intelligent mind for the uses to which they are applied, T)ut 

 that the wants of the living mass of almost amorphous matter 

 led to such efforts as ultimately to form an organ. Thus the 

 desire for food in a mass of vitalized jelly caused it to pro- 

 trude certain points which ultimately became hands, and the 

 desire of locomotion formed the feet and legs. To form the 

 organs in this manner It would be necessary that the use of 

 parts of the living unorganized mass or body should have a 

 natural tendency to produce them. If then we can show that 

 in some cases this tendency would be oxactly the opposite, the 

 hypothesis must fall. We need give only a few examples to 

 show that such is the case. Take the looped muscles, such as 

 those in the back of the oye„ Any effort of matter behind the 

 eye to move the ball must draw in a direct line, not in the 

 round about course of a loop attached to the orbit. Take the 

 case of the annular ligaments at the wrist and ankle. The 

 conatus of the muscles to move the fingers and toes would 

 tend to destroy but not to form such a ligament. They are as 

 obviously intended as any thing can be to counteract the con- 

 atus of the tendons to fly off when the muscles contract. 



820. Such facts so manifestly show the absurdity of the 

 hypothesis under consideration, that examples need not be 

 multiplied. It is true of nine tenths of the organs, that an 

 effort of vitality to perform their functions before their exist- 

 ence would have a tendency the opposite of their formation. 



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