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82 ESOTERIC ANTHROPOLOGY.
the senses are inactive in the foetus ; but tho heart pul
sates, the capillaries are at work, and the body is pre
pared for independent life. Under the intelligent agency
of the nerves of organic life, all the structures of the
body are perfected. We have that beautiful optical
instrument, the eye, which our best artists can only
bunglingly imitate. We have the complicated apparatus
of hearing, still less understood ; and the still more as
tounding organ of thought. They are all formed ready
for action ; but they are all at rest, until, at the end of
the nine months of gestation, independent life begins,
and the animal powers are added to the organic. The
child breathes, then it exercises the propensity of ali-
mentiveness; and, day by day, it gradually acquires the
power and use of its intellectual and moral faculties.
This striking difference is to be noticed between the
organic and animal organs. The first require no edu
cation. They act perfectly from the beginning. The
heart beats as well when it is a pulsating point beneath
the microscope, as at any subsequent period. The cap
illaries and glands need no training to perform their
offices. But the animal organs require exercise and
education. It is true that those most intimately con
nected with organic life, act with an instinctive spon
taneity ; such as sucking, swallowing, etc. ; but locomo
tion, language, and the exercise of the mechanical and
intellectual powers, comes to the human being by slow
degrees, and the higher faculties come one after another
into their development and action.
Another difference is in relation to consciousness.
If a man were not told, he would never know that he
had heart, stomach, liver, kidneys, and any of the in-