Picture - Cosmic Polymath

TRAVELLING ORGANS IN RELATION TO ENVIRONMENT 221
perform their several functions perfectly. Limbs, even in the highest animals (man included), are mere buds or
outgrowths of the trunk and vertebral column, which are the essential parts of the organism. The hard and soft parts
in animals split up transversely as in vertebrae, and longitudinally as in limbs, which terminate in digits and range
from one to five or greatly exceed that number, as in the fins of fishes and the flippers of certain extinct animals,
such as the Ichthyosaurus, Plesiosaurus, &c. Illustrations of limbs and limb structures are given at Plates xlvii.,
xlviii., xlix., and 1., which see.
The limbs and travelhng organs of animals are the product of a First Cause, and are means to ends. That
there is gradation, plan, and adaptation in limbs and travelling organs, as apart from evolution, is proved by the
relation which exists between the travelling organs and surfaces of animals and the media to be traversed. No
animal can progress satisfactorily on the land whose travelling surfaces are not adapted to land transit, and the
same is to be said of the water and air. The modified travelling organs which connect the land with the water
and the water with the air, or each with the other, afford no proof of evolution. The land, water, and air form
the three great highways for animal progression, and every animal, to whatever order it belongs, must possess organs
of locomotion adapted for one or other. The land, water, and air aflord different degrees of support to the
travelling organs of animals, and these must be modified to deal with the question of support as well as of propulsion.
The more tenuous the medium traversed, the larger must be the travelling organs. No animal is equally well
adapted for walking, swimming, and flying, although there are several examples of animals which walk, swim, and
fly indiscriminately.
The travelling organs of animals become exceedingly interesting when viewed from the teleological standpoint.
When so viewed it is all but certain that they are to be regarded as original structures—that is, structures which
formed part of the original animals, and which were absolutely necessary to the early as well as to the later and
continued existence of the animals. The organs in question were formed even before they were required. They
grew and were developed with the other parts of the body. There is no proof that they were made piecemeal, or
that they passed through innumerable stages before reaching their present state of perfection.
The travelling organs lead us back to a much disputed subject, namely, were the land animals originally marine
animals, or did certain of the land animals take to a marine existence, or were the land and marine animals created
separately at the outset ? I am wholly in favour of the separate creation view, and of the production of great
races and types of animals adapted at the beginning to their several surroundings. I cannot reconcile myself to
the production of organs by infinite modifications in infinite time, seeing a creation at first hand was as easy and
easier than a creation at any subsequent period, even at a milhonth remove.
The Mosaic account of creation is very exphcit on this particular point. According to it, not only animals
but also plants were created separately and for different regions of the earth's surface. They were also created
to five and travel in different media. The several types of plants and animals which exist on the earth at present
had their prototypes in the early days of our planet. Even flying things had a place among the primeval creations.
The Mosaic narrative runs as follows : " And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed,
and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth. . . . And
God said. Let the
waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath hfe, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open
firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters
God blessed them,
brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind. . . . And
saying. Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. . . . And
God
said. Let the earth bring forth the hving creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth
it was so."
The remarkable feature of creation is its unvarying uniformity and conformity to law and order.
after his kind : aud
In the case of animals, their general shape and travelling and other organs must satisfy the requirements of
the media they are severally called upon to hve in. In every case, the animals must be adapted to one or other
special set of conditions.
If the land animals take to the water they must have modified or suppressed hmbs, a fish shape, and a
swimming tail. If the marine animals take to the land they must have a modified or suppressed tail and more
or less perfectly developed limbs. The same reasoning applies, within limits, to birds. As the land and water
do not create or form the travelhng organs, it follows that the animals which move on the land and in the water
respectively must be provided with the necessary travelhng organs as part of their original outfit and endowment.
§36. The Travelling Organs in Relation to Environment.
There is an organic and an inorganic kingdom, and the one is fitted to the other. Both have been made by the
same hand, and the activities of both determined. It has not been proved that the representatives of the organic