Note 59 — Chapter V · EVOLUTION.

In the memoir on the Anatomy and Physiology of the Nematoids, by Dr. Charlton Bastian, which appeared in the Philosophical Transactions for 1866, we read that even these lowly organized worms have little power of repair. Speaking of the “paste eels” (Anguilulidæ), he says, “I may state as the result of many experiments with these that the power they possess of repairing injuries seems very low. I have cut off portions of the posterior extremity, and though I watched the animal for days after, could never recognize any attempt at repair.” Perhaps, however, the season may have some influence; and Dr. Williams’s denial respecting the Naïs may be thus explained. [What is said above was written in 1868, and published in the June number of the Fortnightly Review. In the August of that year the question of reproduction of lost limbs was treated by Prof. Rolleston in his Address to the British Medical Association, in which he showed cogent evidence for the conclusion that the reproduction of limbs only exists is animals that have feeble respiration, and consequently slow vital processes.]