Picture - Cosmic Polymath

266 DESIGN IN NATURE
turns itself in the direction of sounding bodies, and strains to receive on its drum or tympanum the waves of
sound the tongue presses the sapid soUds and fluids which form our food and drink agamst the palate, cneeKS,
and other parts in tasting ; and the nostrils sniff up the minute odoriferous particles floating m the air, trom what-
ever source derived, in the process of smelhng. In each case, the animal by its sensory nerves and sense organs per-
forms its work voluntarily, and as apart from stimulation and irritation. When an animal is accidentally touched
fiom without, it is always taken by surprise, and responds at a disadvantage, being of! its guard. Herein lies the
great difference between my theory of life and action and that of the modern, mechamcal school. _ _
I maintain that hfe is aggressive and masterful in everything it does ; that it is self-sustaining, self-acting,
self-directed ; that it is superior to its surroundings ; that it moves spontaneously to given ends ; and that it
performs its work directly and at first hand, being independent of everything but the First Cause.
The modern physiologists contend that all, or very nearly all, the movements of plants and ammals do not
originate in the plants and animals themselves, but that they are due to extraneous stimulation and inherent irri-
tabihty They attribute to dead matter and stimuh the initiation of the greater portion of the movements and
changes occurring in plants and animals, than which nothing could be more unphilosophical. They reverse the
order of nature In so doing, they practically rob hfe of its prerogatives, and convert plants and ammals into
automata which are set in motion and regulated from without. No greater delusion can possibly be imagined.
Plants and animals cannot be so degraded. The mainspring of action, and the power of regulating action, inhere
in the plants and animals themselves. Life as conferred by the great First Causeis, m every instance, the prime
mover, and the matter and force of the universe are subject to its sway and under its control.
In rudimentary animals, such as the jelly-fish (Medusa), the brain is absent, the brain function being discharged
by the nerves themselves, plus certain nerve cells and substances which enable the animal to feel and move volun-
tarily. The power of feeling and moving which inheres in the nerves and substances of the medusa does not dis-
appear in the sensory and motor nerves of the higher animals when a brain is superadded. In that case the original
or fundamental arrangement is augmented, amphfied, and emphasised. In this connection it is well to bear in
mind that animals feel and move voluntarily in the absence of a nervous system. Similar remarks are to be made
of the insectivorous plants. Feeling and moving are, so to speak, focussed and made visible by means of the
nervous system and the brain.
As already explained, the rhythms and reflexes are not confined to animals. They occur also in plants.
Neither do they require for their manifestation nerves and muscles as found in the higher animals.
When nerves and muscles occur, as in the more advanced complex organisms, they are utilised, but the modus
operandi is essentially the same. In rhythms and reflexes two things are present, the thing acting and the thing
acted upon, and in both cases movement, at longer or shorter intervals, is the distinguishing feature. The move-
ments, at first direct, become, in certain cases, from constant repetition and habit, to a certain extent indirect or
automatic. In rhythms and reflexes, a certain amount of time necessarily elapses during the operations ; the moving
substances have to get into and out of action. There is, further, a tendency of the moving parts to continue .
moving, and of the resting parts to contirme resting, as in non-living ordinary matter. The rhythmic and reflex
involuntary movements are illustrated by a reference to the voluntary movements. A sensation travels from the
skin and sense organs to the brain, and a volition travels from the brain to the muscles. Time is required for both
operations. The sensations and volitions are transmitted at a given and measurable speed in opposite directions.
In hke manner, the living, feehng thing requires a certain time to reconnoitre and recognise the substance with
which it comes in contact or touches, and to determine whether it shall move towards or away from it, or remain
passive. Living things act more or less deliberately, and the time intervals are increased according to the degree
of deliberation. The direct voluntary movements, and the indirect involuntary rhythmic and reflex movements, are
or may be rapid, but they are never quite instantaneous. The distinguishing feature of the involuntary movements
is the element of repetition. Voluntary movements may or may not be repeated ; involuntary rhythmic and
reflex movements generally are.
Plants and animals are endowed at the outset with certain powers and propensities which make them superior
to their surroundings, which enable them to take in or reject the matter by which they are invested, and which
permit them to reahse more or less clearly their places in nature. Plants and animals, as a class, are sentient
living entities. They are, in no sense, the sport of the elements, and cannot be regarded as mere machines goaded
into activity by accident, irritabihty, or extraneous stimulation.
If a muscle shrinks, contracts, or shortens on being pricked or artificially stimulated, it does not follow that
this is its natural or normal mode of action, or that the same result cannot be obtained in the hving animal in the
absence of stimulation. The heart and the involuntary muscles, as a class, require no stimulation. The voluntary
muscles are set in motion by volitions ; volitions themselves being, with few exceptions, the outcome of spon-
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