Darwiniana : Essays — Volume 02Huxley, Thomas Henry
Science
Darwiniana : Essays — Volume 02
Huxley, Thomas Henry
Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882; Evolution (Biology)
The action of each of these organs, the performance of each of these
various duties, involve in their operation a continual absorption of the
matters necessary for their support, from the blood and a constant
formation of waste products, which are returned to the blood, and conveyed
by it to the lungs and the kidneys, which are organs that have allotted to
them the office of extracting, separating, and getting rid of these waste
products; and thus the general nourishment, labour, and repair of the whole
machine are kept up with order and regularity. But not only is it a machine
which feeds and appropriates to its own support the nourishment necessary
to its existence--it is an engine for locomotive purposes. The horse
desires to go from one place to another; and to enable it to do this, it
has those strong contractile bundles of muscles attached to the bones of
its limbs, which are put in motion by means of a sort of telegraphic
apparatus formed by the brain and the great spinal cord running through the
spine or backbone; and to this spinal cord are attached a number of fibres
termed nerves, which proceed to all parts of the structure. By means of
these the eyes, nose, tongue, and skin--all the organs of
perception--transmit impressions or sensations to the brain, which acts as
a sort of great central telegraph-office, receiving impressions and sending
messages to all parts of the body, and putting in motion the muscles
necessary to accomplish any movement that maybe desired. So that you have
here an extremely complex and beautifully-proportioned machine, with all
its parts working harmoniously together towards one common object--the
preservation of the life of the animal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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