Picture - Cosmic Polymath

RHYTHMIC MOVEMENTS IN PLANTS AND ANIMALS 251
Under 6 (Emotions) fall the rhythms which result in sighing, sobbing, crying, laughing, impulses of love,
hatred, &c.
Under 7 (Reproduction) fall the rhythms occurring in :
(a) Ovulation.
(b) Menstruation.
(c) Coitus.
(d) Parturition, &c.
Under 8 (Locomotion) fall, the rhythms connected with walking, swimming, flying, waltzing, &c.
The recurring, or give-and-take movements witnessed in the inorganic kingdom, which, as explained, are
essentially rhythmic in character, are dependent on physical forces, such as gravitation, attraction, repulsion,
cohesion, adhesion, condensation, rarefaction, osmose, chemical affinity, &c.
Examples of rhythms in the inorganic kingdom are to be found in the rise and fall of the tides (give and take
of water) ; the alternation of day and night (give and take of light) ; the coming and going of seasons (give and
take of light and heat) ; the rise and fall of the barometer (give and take of atmospheric pressure) ; alternations
of damp and dryness (give and take of moisture) ; the formation and disintegration of clouds (give and take of
the sea, inland lakes, the atmosphere, and the land) ; the appearance and disappearance of frost (give and take
of cold and heat) ;
the formation of sound and other waves in the air and water (give and take of atoms in a state
of vibration) ; the production of calms and winds (give and take of heat and cold equilibrating or producing vacua
and air currents), &c.^
In order to explain the rhythmic movements which occur in plants and animals, it is necessary to recall and
emphasise the fact that all plants and all animals are derived from the inorganic kingdom, and that no element is
found in the plant or animal which is not also found in that kingdom.
It is necessary also to explain, as has been already done, that the elements or substances which enter into the
composition of plants and animals carry with them certain forces which inhere in them, and which must be reckoned
with as factors, and important factors, in living plants and animals.
This follows because it has been shown by Professor Helmholtz and others that not only matter but also force
is indestructible.
As it is not possible to destroy matter, neither is it possible to destroy force. The most that can be done is to
change the position and form of matter, and to divert the direction of force. There is, it has now been ascertained,
a store of matter and of force (physical force) in the universe wliich can neither be increased nor diminished.
The corollary to all this is, that Uving plants and animals in the processes of growth and development carry into
their bodies, by what are virtually rhythmic movements, a large number of the elements which are found in the
inorganic kingdom, and also a not inconsiderable portion of the physical forces of that Idngdom, which confer on it
its rhythmic and other movements. It was therefore to be expected that the rhythmic movements witnessed in
the inorganic kingdom would reappear, in some form or other, in the organic kingdom, and they certainly do. It
was also to be expected that the organic rhythmic movements would play quite as definite a role as the inorganic
rhythmic movements, and this they hkewise do. As a matter of fact, the organic rhythmic movements are primary
or fundamental movements, and are absolutely necessary, not only to the well-being of plants and animals, but also
to their very existence. Without them, plants and animals could neither be formed nor maintained.
The rhythmic movements occurring in plants and animals are spontaneous, independent movements, and
neither nerves nor muscles, as they occur in the higher animals, are necessary to their production. It is not possible
to explain or get behind the rhythmic movements referred to, and they must be accepted in physics and physiology
as ultimate or final. They form parts of a great scheme of movement which pervades all matter, whether living
or dead.
The rhythmic movements may, and do, occur in cells and hving protoplasmic masses in the vegetable and animal
kingdoms where no trace of a nervous system or differentiation of any kind can be detected.
While the cells of plants and animals are endowed with rhythmic movements, not a few of them are provided
with cilia or hair-hke processes, which, acting first in one direction and then in another, cause them to move in
specific directions.
Sir James Paget writes : " Probably the simplest example of rhythmic motions yet known is that detected
by Professor Busk ^ in Volvox globator. At a certain period of the development of this simplest vegetable
organism there appear in each zoospore, or in the bands of protoplasm with which the zoospores are connected,
' In this enumeration of inorganic rhytlims I do not refer to the manner in which these rhythms are produced. That is a much wider
question, and would require separate treatment.
' " Transactions of the Microscopical Society of London," May 21, 1852.