ether the black points at the
extremities of what Swammerdam calls the horns of the common
snail, are organs which really possess the power of vision,
is still problematical.

[11] Blumenbach, Man. Comp. Anat. p. 305.

Next we may notice the curious provision by which the Cuttle-fish is
enabled to elude the pursuit of its enemies in the "vasty deep." This
consists of a black, inky fluid, (erroneously supposed to be the
bile,) which is contained in a bag beneath the body. The fluid itself
is thick, but miscible with water to such a degree, that a very small
quantity will colour a vast bulk of water.[12] Thus, the comparatively
small Cuttle-fish may darken the element about the acute eye of the
whale. What omniscience is displayed in this single provision, as well
as in the faculty possessed by the Cuttle-fish of reproducing its
mutilated arms! All Nature beams with such beneficence, and abounds
with such instances of divine love for every creature, however humble:
in observing these provisions, how often are we reminded of the
benefits conferred by the same omniscience upon our own species. It is
thus, by the investigation of natural history, that we are led to
the contemplation of the sublimest subjects; thus that man with God
himself holds converse.

BONE, OR PLATE.

[Illustration: Bone, or Plate.]

The "bone" of the Cuttle-fish now claims attention. This is a
complicated calcareous plate, lodged in a peculiar cavity of the back,
which it materially strengthens. This plate has long been known in
the shop of the apothecary under the name of Cuttle-fish bone: an
observant reader may have noticed scores of these plates in glasses
labelled _Os Sepiae_. Reduced to powder, they were formerly used as an
absorbent, but they are now chiefly sought after for the purpose of
polishing the softer metals. It is however improper to call this plate
bone, since, in composition, "it is exactly similar to _shell_, and
consists of various membranes, hardened by carbonate of lime, (the
principal material of shell,) without the smallest mixture of
phosphate of lime,[13] or the chief material of bone."

[12] According to Cuvier, the Indian ink, from China, is made of
this fluid, as was the ink of the Romans. It has been supposed,
and not without a considerable degree of probability, that the
celebrated plain, but wholesome dish, the black broth of Sparta,
wa