{"id":"01KG8AKT01X5Z2DGCRVDVFQA1F","cid":"bafkreiapciqseyaw3g7j5vk5rpwjivobw2gnaqb3w5c2zd6nmjfueryrba","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7288,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.927Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":7221,"text":"“Somewhat curious, certainly,” said Media.—“But me-thinks, Babbalanja,\r\nthat somewhere I have heard something about organic functions, so\r\ncalled; which may account for the phenomena you mention; and I have\r\nheard too, me-thinks, of what are called reflex actions of the nerves,\r\nwhich, duly considered, might deprive of its strangeness that story of\r\nyours concerning Grande and his body.”\r\n\r\n“Mere substitutions of sounds for inexplicable meanings, my lord. In\r\nsome things science cajoles us. Now, what is undeniable of the Polyp\r\nsome physiologists analogically maintain with regard to us Mardians;\r\nthat forasmuch, as the lining of our interiors is nothing more than a\r\ncontinuation of the epidermis, or scarf-skin, therefore, that in a\r\nremote age, we too must have been turned wrong side out: an hypothesis,\r\nwhich, indirectly might account for our moral perversities: and also,\r\nfor that otherwise nonsensical term—‘the coat of the stomach;’ for\r\noriginally it must have been a surtout, instead of an inner garment.”\r\n\r\n“Pray, Azzageddi,” said Media, “are you not a fool?”\r\n\r\n“One of a jolly company, my lord; but some creatures besides wearing\r\ntheir surtouts within, sport their skeletons without: witness the\r\nlobster and turtle, who alive, study their own anatomies.”\r\n\r\n“Azzageddi, you are a zany.”\r\n\r\n“Pardon, my lord,” said Mohi, “I think him more of a lobster; it’s hard\r\ntelling his jaws from his claws.”\r\n\r\n“Yes, Braid-Beard, I am a lobster, a mackerel, any thing you please;\r\nbut my ancestors were kangaroos, not monkeys, as old Boddo erroneously\r\nopined. My idea is more susceptible of demonstration than his. Among\r\nthe deepest discovered land fossils, the relics of kangaroos are\r\ndiscernible, but no relics of men. Hence, there were no giants in those\r\ndays; but on the contrary, kangaroos; and those kangaroos formed the\r\nfirst edition of mankind, since revised and corrected.”\r\n\r\n“What has become of our finises, or tails, then?” asked Mohi, wriggling\r\nin his seat.\r\n\r\n“The old question, Mohi. But where are the tails of the tadpoles, after\r\ntheir gradual metamorphosis into frogs? Have frogs any tails, old man?\r\nOur tails, Mohi, were worn off by the process of civilization;\r\nespecially at the period when our fathers began to adopt the sitting\r\nposture: the fundamental evidence of all civilization, for neither\r\napes, nor savages, can be said to sit; invariably, they squat on their\r\nhams. Among barbarous tribes benches and settles are unknown. But, my\r\nlord Media, as your liege and loving subject I can not sufficiently\r\ndeplore the deprivation of your royal tail. That stiff and vertebrated\r\nmember, as we find it in those rustic kinsmen we have disowned, would\r\nhave been useful as a supplement to your royal legs; and whereas my\r\ngood lord is now fain to totter on two stanchions, were he only a\r\nkangaroo, like the monarchs of old, the majesty of Odo would be\r\ndignified, by standing firm on a tripod.”\r\n\r\n“A very witty conceit! But have a care, Azzageddi; your theory applies\r\nnot to me.”\r\n\r\n“Babbalanja,” said Mohi, “you must be the last of the kangaroos.”\r\n\r\n“I am, Mohi.”\r\n\r\n“But the old fashioned pouch or purse of your grandams?” hinted Media.\r\n\r\n“My lord, I take it, that must have been transferred; nowadays our sex\r\ncarries the purse.”\r\n\r\n“Ha, ha!”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJTNYJAJVPY249XHCDNG8","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKSZYADP7WEKTGGE6F9Z1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKT06W047J2R0P3GAWCKN","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:16.385Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:24.899Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}