Examine the recently laid egg of some common…

Examine the recently laid egg of some common animal, such as a salamander or newt. It is a minute spheroid an apparently structure less sac, enclosing a fluid, holding granules in suspension. But let a moderate supply of warmth reach its watery cradle, and the plastic matter undergoes changes so rapid, yet so steady and purposeful in their succession, that one can only compare them to those operated by a skilled modeler upon a formless lump of clay. As with an invisible trowel, the mass is divided and subdivided into smaller and smaller portions. And, then, it is as if a delicate finger traced out the line to be occupied by the spinal column, and molded the contour of the body; pinching up the head at one end, the tail at the other, and fashioning flank and limb into due proportions, in so artistic a way, that, after watching the process hour by hour, one is almost involuntarily possessed by the notion, that some more subtle aid to vision than a microscope, would show the hidden artist, with his plan before him, striving with skillful manipulation to perfect his work.