Polydeuces

“ But when he came back his people had forgotten him, and Castor and Polydeuces, the sons of the wondrous Swan, had invaded his land, and carried off his mother Aithra for a slave, in revenge for a grievous wrong. ”

“ The importance of the art of self-defence in those unsettled times is obvious from the many legends of robbers and bullies who challenged strangers to a bout of wrestling or boxing, till their career of murder was cut short by a Heracles, a Theseus, or a Polydeuces, in whose victories later art and story represented the triumph of science and Hellenism over brute force and barbarism. Such a victory Odysseus himself is said to have won in Lesbos over Philomeleides, whom he threw mightily, and all the Achaeans rejoiced. ”

“ In this masterly description Theocritus shows an intimate knowledge of boxing. It is a fight between science and brute strength. Amycus has the advantage of height and weight, 430but he has no science and blunders hopelessly. He rushes in head down, hits wildly with both hands, neglects his guard, and finally commits a glaring breach of the rules of boxing by seizing his opponent’s hand. Polydeuces acts on the defensive, husbanding his strength by allowing the bully to exhaust himself, while he avoids his rushes by dodging, or ducking, or stops them by well-aimed blows on the face. ”

“ HOW THEY BUILT THE SHIP ‘ARGO’ IN IOLCOS
So the heralds went out, and cried to all the heroes of the Minuai, ‘Who dare come to the adventure of the golden fleece?’
And Hera stirred the hearts of all the princes, and they came from all their valleys to the yellow sands of Pagasai. And first came Heracles the mighty, with his lion’s skin and club, and behind him Hylas his young squire, who bore his arrows and his bow; and Tiphys, the skilful steersman; and Butes, the fairest of all men; and Castor and Polydeuces the twins, the sons of the magic swan ”

“ Many Australian natives of to-day claim descent, like the royal house of Sparta, from the Swan. The Greek myths hesitated as to whether Nemesis or Leda was the bride of the Swan. Homer only mentions Leda among “the wives and daughters of mighty men,” whose ghosts Odysseus beheld in Hades: “And I saw Leda, the famous bedfellow of Tyndareus, who bare to Tyndareus two sons, hardy of heart, Castor, tamer of steeds, and the boxer Polydeuces.” These heroes Helen, in the Iliad (iii. 238) , describes as her mother’s sons. ”

“ Laotian Tyndarid.] —Helen was the child of Zeus and Leda, and sister of Castor and Polydeuces; but her human father was Tyndareus, an old Spartan king. She is treated as "a prisoner and a prize," i.e., as a captured enemy, not as a Greek princess delivered from the Trojans.
[5] In secret slain.] —Because the Greeks were ashamed of the bloody deed. See below, p. 42, and the scene on this subject in the Hecuba.
[6] Cassandra.] —In the Agamemnon the story is more clearly told, that Cassandra was loved by Apollo and endowed by him with the power of prophecy ”

“ In the substance of each species of plant or animal, there is a proclivity toward the structure which that plant or animal presents—a proclivity conclusively proved in cases where the conditions to the maintenance of life are sufficiently simple, and where the tissue has not assumed a structure too finished to permit rearrangement. The perpetually-cited case of the polype, each part of which, when it is cut into several, presently puts on the polype-shape, and gains structures and powers like those of the original whole, illustrates this truth among animals. ”

“ Polypode, pol′i-pōd, n. an animal with many feet. [Gr. polypous—polys, many, pous, podos, a foot.]
Polypodium, pol-i-pō′di-um, n. a genus of ferns with spore-cases on the back of the frond, distinct, ring-shaped, in roundish sori, destitute of indusium.—n. Pol′ypody, a fern of the genus Polypodium, having the seed-clusters round, and on each side of the midrib. [Gr. polys, many, pous, a foot.]
Polyporous, pō-lip′ō-rus, adj. having many pores.
Polyporus, pō-lip′or-us, n. a large genus of pore-bearing fungus, which grows on trees, from which amadou is prepared. ”

“ If the truncated portions of a polype be placed end to end, and gently pushed together, they will unite into a single one. The two portions are first joined together by a slender neck, which gradually fills up and disappears, the food passing from one part into the other; and thus we may form polypes, not only from different portions of the same animal, but from those of different animals. We may fix the head of one to the body of another, and the compound animal will grow, eat, and multiply, as if it had never been divided. ”

“ Each petal carries on its edges a row of very slender transparent filaments, arranged like the teeth of a comb, which also arch downward, and greatly augment the beauty of the flower-like polyp.
Structurally, this polyp is closely allied to the common forms of the Sea Anemones; the most obvious peculiarity being, that a multitude are combined into one mass, with a common life animating the whole. [Pg 75] The fleshy mass is of a spongy texture, full of branching water-canals, and containing a multitude of calcareous spicula of characteristic forms. ”

“ The polype is an organized whole, of which each part, each molecule, each atom, tends to produce another; it is, if we may so speak, one entire ovary, a compound of germ, or seed. In cutting a polype to pieces, the nourishing juices, which would have been employed in supporting the whole, are made to act upon each portion. ”

“ The observations, which I have made upon some kind of polype-beds, lead me to think, that what are called polypes, in those bodies, which are observed to come out of and return into the cells, are more than the heads of the animal. ”

“ In summer, I have seen arms begin to sprout out twenty-four hours after the operation, and the new head perfected in every respect in a few days.
'Each of those parts thus become a perfect Polypus, performs absolutely all its functions. It creeps, it eats, it grows, and it multiplies; and all that, as much as a Polypus which never had been cut.
'In whatever place the body of a Polypus is cut, whether in the middle, or more or less near the head, or the posterior part, the experiment has always the same success. ”

“ Next day, the Polypus that resulted, eat. It has continued well these two months since the operation: it is grown, and has put forth young ones from each of the parts of which it was formed. The two foregoing experiments do not always succeed; it often happens, that the two parts will not join again.
'In order to comprehend the experiment I am now going to speak of, one should recollect, that the whole body of a Polypus forms only one pipe, a sort of gut, or pouch. ”

“ A new polype is formed out of small portions or fragments, in a very different manner, the operations in nature being always varied, according as the circumstances differ; each fragment is puffed up, the skin separated, and an empty space is formed within it; this part is to become the stomach of the rising polype, which soon sends forth arms, and is formed to the perfection proper to its kind. We learn from this instance that the skin of the polype is not so simple as was at first imagined ”

“ Nature’s Law prescribes two antagonistic decrees affecting Circular propagation; first, that as the race climbs higher in the scale of development, so development shall proceed at an accelerated pace; second, that in the same proportion, the race shall become less fertile. Consequently in the home of a Polygon of four or five hundred sides it is rare to find a son; more than one is never seen. On the other hand the son of a five-hundred-sided Polygon has been known to possess five hundred and fifty, or even six hundred sides. ”

“ The bud grows, an opening appears at its distal end, a circlet of tentacles arises about this mouth-opening and a new polyp individual is formed. This individual may separate from the parent or it may remain attached to it. By the development of numerous buds, and the remaining attached of all of the individuals developing from these buds, a colony of polyp individuals may be formed, plant-like in appearance. The various polyp individuals of a colony may differ somewhat among themselves, and these differences are correlated with a division of labor. ”

“ In structure each tiny polyp is little more than a fleshy sac whose mouth is surrounded with petal-like tentacles, or feelers. From the sea water the polyps secrete calcium carbonate and build it up into the stony framework which supports their colonies. ”

“ Then each half-pipe becomes a whole one complete: a stomach is formed, in which nothing is wanting; and out of each half-mouth a whole one is formed also.
'I have seen all this done in less than an hour; and that the Polypus produced from each of those halves, at the end of that time, did not differ from the whole ones, except that it had fewer arms; but in a few days more grew out.
'I have cut a Polypus lengthways, between seven and eight in the morning; and between two and three in the afternoon, each of the parts has been able to eat a worm as long as itself. ”

“ The worm, coming out of the mouth of the polype, forces it to enlarge itself considerably, especially if it comes out doubled up. When the polype is in this state, I take it gently out of the water, without disturbing anything, and place it on the edge of my hand, which is simply moistened, so that it [Pg 66] may not adhere too closely. I oblige it to contract more and more, and this also enlarges the stomach and mouth. ”

“ The animal kingdom presents still greater difficulties. When, from sundry points on the body of a common polype, there bud out young polypes which, after acquiring mouths and tentacles and closing up the communications between their stomachs and the stomach of the parent, finally separate from the parent; we may with propriety regard them as distinct individuals. ”

“ Among Polyzoa the animal’s body is coated with a membraneous covering, like that of the Tunicated Mollusca, but which is a continuation of the edge of the cell, which doubles back upon the body in such a manner that when the animal protrudes from its cell it pushes out the flexible membrane just as one would turn inside out the finger of a glove. This oneness of cell and polype is a distinctive character of the group. ”

“ The simplest form of polype is that of a fleshy bag open at one end, surmounted by a circle of contractile threads or fingers called tentacles. The plate shows, on a very minute scale, at figs. 1, 3, and 6, several of these little polypiform bodies protruding from their cells. But the Hydra or Fresh-water Polype has no cell, and is quite unconnected with any root thread, or with other individuals of the same species. It is perfectly free, and so simple in its structure, that when the sac which forms its body is turned inside out it will continue to perform the functions of life as before. ”

“ This is multiplication by cuttings, exactly similar to the process in plants, so that the generation of fresh-water polypes does not differ from that of one of our fruit-trees. It is not only the entire polype which, thus cut to fragments, furnishes a new polype; the skin of this animal can also produce one new individual or several. Is not this a vegetable ingraftment? ”

“ Not polypes at all, but jelly-fish, are in this capsule: and these in due time will produce polypes, like that one now waving its tentacles.
Having made this observation, it will naturally occur to you that the polype stem which bore such different capsules as are represented by these two, may perhaps be called a colony, but it is a colony of different individuals. ”

“ Enlargement of the sori on the frond of Common Polypody.
The Common Polypody will, of course, grow in almost any position. It often finds a home [89] amongst the branches of old oak trees, whilst it seems to be equally happy on the wall or the hedge-bank. It is of fairly easy culture in the garden, though the plant likes a well-drained situation. The Common Polypody is an evergreen species. ”

“ If the polype be fixed near the top of the glass, the arms for the most part hang down toward the bottom. This is a very convenient situation for feeding it, and observing its management of the food.
The polypes are in general very voracious: an hungry one extends its arms as a fisherman his nets; it spreads them every way, so that they form a circle of considerable extent, every part of which is entirely within the reach of one of them. ”

“ A truncated portion will put forth young before it is perfectly formed itself, or has acquired its new head and tail; sometimes the head of the young one supplies the place of that which would grow out of the anterior part of the trunk.
If a polype be slit, beginning at the head, and proceeding to the middle of the body, a polype will be formed with two heads, and will eat at the same time with both. If the polype be slit into six or seven parts, it becomes a hydra with six or seven heads. ”

“ Other plants there are that produce certain specialized buds called bulbils, which separating themselves and falling to the ground, grow into independent plants. Among animals the fresh-water polype very clearly shows this mode of development: the young polypes, budding out from its surface, severally arrange their parts around distinct axes, and eventually detaching themselves, lead separate lives, and produce other polypes after the same fashion. ”