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had to fight a fiercer battle than these Arachnida. For all 
this, however, not one of them has succeeded in evolving a 
compound eye, with itslten or twenty thousand lenses, as is 
possessed by the fly which is entrapped in its wonderfully 
woven web. 
Surely, then, if the struggle for existence during many 
thousands of years has failed to effect any change in the 
organs of sight in all these creatures, what right has the 
evolutionist to assume that in others there have been all those 
wonderful changes which his doctrine requires us to believe 
there have been? We hold that he has no right either to 
make the assumption, nor has he any right to demand that we 
shall allow his imagination to dictate to us what our reason 
disapproves of. 
In the next place, let us take the tongue of a woodpecker, 
a bird which feeds on insects that lie concealed beneath the 
bark of trees, or on larvae buried deeply in the substance 
of the wood. How are these larvae to be obtained ? The 
hiding-place must be reached. The instinct of the creature 
determines the spot, and the strong chisel-shaped bill pierces 
the wood. But the hard, stiflP bill cannot be thrust down 
the deep run of the maggot. Shall another hole be made — 
and another — until the exact spot be hit upon ? No. There 
is a special contrivance in the mechanism of the tongue which 
enables the bird to thrust it to the very bottom of the run, 
and so obtain its food. Look at this contrivance and deny, if 
you can, the evidence of mind in its construction. 
The tongue is really a double one, consisting of two distinct 
parts — a fixed fleshy base, and a projectile portion which 
passes through the centre of the fixed portion. The projectile 
part is prolonged into a double bow, which passes on either 
side of the larynx and over the bone of the head, and 
terminates near the nostril in the upper mandible. On the 
inner side of this elastic bow are muscles which, when con- 
tracted, force the projectile tongue forward. Another muscle 
has one of its ends fastened to the projectile tongue, near the 
part close to the fixed base ; and the other end of the muscle 
is wrapped round the trachea. By the contraction of this 
muscle the projectile tongue is drawn in ; and so by the alter- 
nate action of these two muscles, the long, thin tongue can 
be projected and retracted with great rapidity. Nor does the 
contrivance end here. The tip of the projectile tongue is 
horny and barbed. And further, when the tongue is pro- 
jected, it rubs against a gland which, being excited, pours 
out a sticky saliva, which passes to the barbed extremity of 
the projectile tongue. Here there is a beautiful piece of 
T 2 
