Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T14:35:52.240Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

CHAP. XXI - Functions and Instincts. Fishes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2010

Get access

Summary

The animals we have hitherto considered have been destitute of an internal jointed vertebral column and its bony appendages; and though some, as the Cephalopods and some slugs, have a kind of internal bone, and in one Order of Polypes the axis is sometimes articulated, yet these, especially in the latter instance, merely indicate an analogical relation, but no affinity. In none of these instances is this internal bone perforated for the passage of a spinal marrow, as in a real vertebrated column; we now, however, enter that superior section of the animal kingdom, the individuals belonging to which, with scarcely any exception, are built upon the column in question, incasing a spinal marrow, and terminated at its upper extremity by a bony casket, calculated to contain and protect the most precious and wonderful of all material substances, the cerebral pulp, by which the organs of sense perceive; the will moves the members; the mind governs the outward frame; and, in the king of animals, an immortal spirit, is enabled to seek and secure a higher destiny.

This change in the structure of animals was rendered necessary by an increase in their bulk, for though there are some of the invertebrated Sub-kingdom, as the fixed Polypes and several of the Cephalopods, that are of as large dimensions, and a few of the vertebrated, as the humming birds, and the harvest mouse, that are not so large as some insects; yet the generality of those distinguished by a vertebral column form a striking contrast, as to magnitude, with those that are not.

Type
Chapter

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Functions and Instincts. Fishes
  • William Kirby
  • Book: On the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God as Manifested in the Creation of Animals and in their History, Habits and Instincts
  • Online publication: 29 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511701177.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Functions and Instincts. Fishes
  • William Kirby
  • Book: On the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God as Manifested in the Creation of Animals and in their History, Habits and Instincts
  • Online publication: 29 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511701177.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Functions and Instincts. Fishes
  • William Kirby
  • Book: On the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God as Manifested in the Creation of Animals and in their History, Habits and Instincts
  • Online publication: 29 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511701177.009
Available formats
×