. GEGENBAUR: METHOD OF MORPHOLOGY 261 



general laws. The investigation of the material substratum 

 of these functions, of the form of the body and its parts, 

 and the explanation of this form, constitute the task of 

 Morphology (2nd ed., p. 3). 



Morphology falls naturally into two divisions compara- 

 tive anatomy and embryology. The method of comparative 

 anatomy is comparison (p. 6), and in employing this method 

 account is to be taken of" the spatial relations of the parts to 

 one another, their number, extent, structure, and texture.'' 

 Through comparison one is enabled to arrange organs in 

 continuous series, and it comes out very clearly during this 

 proceeding "that the physiological value of an organ is by 

 no means constant throughout the different form-states of 

 the organ, that an organ, through the mere modification of 

 its anatomical relations, can subserve very different functions. 

 Exclusive regard for their physiological functions would 

 place morphologically related organs in different categories. 

 From this it follows that in comparative anatomy we should 

 never in the first place consider the function of an organ. 

 The physiological value comes only in the second place into 

 consideration, when we have to reconstruct the relations to the 

 organism as a whole of the modification which an organ has 

 undergone as compared with another state of it. In this way 

 comparative anatomy shows us how to arrange organs in 

 series ; within these series we meet with variations which 

 sometimes are insignificant and sometimes greater in extent ; 

 they affect the extent, number, shape, and texture of the 

 parts of an organ, and can even, though only in a slight 

 degree, lead to alterations of position " (p. 6). 



Geoffroy St Hilaire would have subscribed to every word 

 of this vindication of his "principle of connections." 



Between comparative anatomy and embryology there 

 exists a close connection, for the one throws light on the 

 other. " While in some cases the same organ shows only 

 slight modifications in its development from its early 

 beginnings to its perfect state, in other cases the organ is 

 subjected to manifold modifications before it reaches its 

 definitive form ; we see parts appear in it which later 

 disappear, we observe alterations in it in all its anatomical 

 relations, alterations which may even affect its texture. This 



