The Body Electric - Micro-ondes

34 The Body Electric
TREMBLEY'S DISCOVERY: ANIMAL OR PLANT?
end had sprouted three little "horns," and within a few more days the
complete crown of tentacles had been restored. Trembley now had two
complete polyps as a result of cutting one in half! However, even though
they regenerated, more observations convinced Trembley that the crea-
tures were really animals. Not only did they move and walk, but their
arms captured tiny water fleas and moved them to the "mouth," located
in the center of the ring of tentacles, which promptly swallowed the
prey.
Trembley, then only thirty-one, decided to make sure he was right by
having the great Reaumur confirm his findings before he published them
and possibly made a fool of himself. He sent specimens and detailed
notes to Reaumur, who confirmed that this was an animal with amazing
powers of regeneration. Then he immediately read Trembley's letters
and showed his specimens to an astounded Royal Academy early in
1741. The official report called Trembley's polyp more marvelous than
the phoenix or the mythical serpent that could join together after being
cut in two, for these legendary animals could only reconstitute them-
selves, while the polyp could make a duplicate. Years later Reaumur was
still thunderstruck. As he wrote in Volume 6 of his series on insects,
"This is a fact that I cannot accustom myself to seeing, after having seen
and re-seen it hundrts of times."
This was just the beginning, however. Trembley's polyps performed