File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (18161755321).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo16amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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1S6 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM .JOURNAL In truth there's nothing in your favor save the claim That you mean progress, and that notion's so absurd It serves but to condemn you. Tunicate. Alas! What have we come to In this mad quest for progress? I fear 'tis as our friends declare, we 're topsy- turvy, And in seeking what is not, have lost what is. For me no hope of excellence is left, no hope of being fit to stand With lobster, snail or maritime cucumber. Yet I may show My penitence in just one way, I may forego These modern airs and change into a humble squirting sac. B.\L.\xoGLOSSUS. And 1 also must hide my new conceits, And simulate a worm. I pray j'ou friends, In charity pretend I am a worm. Amphioxus. Oh, comrades of such slender faith, O'ercome by tory talk, No future lies in store for you But one dull round to walk. Invertebrates you cannot be. Nor vertebrates withal. Alone among the beasts of sea. The laughing stock of all. My children are the heirs of time. My sons will rule the earth. When vertebrates come to their own. And human things have birth.
Text Appearing After Image:
Act II In the depths of a shady pool. Frogs and Fishes First Scene Frog. Long have I lived in deep pellucid pools. Life has been sweet among the tangled weeds. Food has been cheap, since here Dame Nature breeds Abundantly her water worms, while schools Of little fishes serve our utmost needs. And yet, in midst of plenty, discontent Arose, and lU'ged by some strange sprite, I must be going upward to the light, Toward the upper air with full intent To face the sun, and see the stars by night. Fish. By all my barbels, 'tis a crazy thought. What frenzy has possessed you? Do you know This air you talk of is not fit f(jr use By vcrtebrated beasts, gilled and soft-skinned. Or clothed in scaly armor. The insect host, all chit in-clad May live on earth in air, as may the plants that raise their fronds O'er marsh and pool. But as for us, The highest of created things, we need the best environment, The flowing waves, soft sand and mud, Where heat and dryness, cold and wind, Do not beset us. Frog. Yet I must go, and do believe 'Tis in the way of progress. Why else am I possessed of limbs, ^^'ith jointed toes and power to jump? Fi.sH. Jump back into the water! Frog. No, jump on land, and see the sights No vertebrate has .seen before. Go up and down, and eat the lowly things Which heretofore have gone scot-free, E^xcept they ate each other.

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