Picture - Cosmic Polymath

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