BONES AND JOINTS OF THE EXTREMITIES 47 



first instance. In the same way the stones which 

 form an arch of a large span must be of the hard- 

 est granite, or their own weight would crush 

 them. The same principle is applicable to the 

 bones of animals. The material of bone is too 

 soft to admit an indefinite increase of weight; 

 and it is another illustration of what was before 

 stated, that there is a relation established through 

 all nature, and that the very animals which move 

 upon the surface of the earth are proportioned to 

 its magnitude, and the gravitation to its centre. 

 Archdeacon Paley has with great propriety taken 

 the instance of the form of the ends of bones, as 

 proving design in the mechanism of a joint. But 

 there is something so highly interesting in the 

 conformation of the whole skeleton of an animal, 

 and the adaptation of any one part to all the 

 other parts, that we must not let our readers re- 

 main ignorant of the facts, or of the important 

 conclusions drawn from them. 



What we have to state has been the result of 

 the studies of many naturalists ; but although 

 they have labored, as it were, in their own depart- 

 ment of comparative anatomy, they have failed 

 to seize upon it with the privilege of genius, and 

 to handle it in the masterly manner of Cuvier. 



Suppose a man ignorant of anatomy to pick 

 up a bone in an unexplored country, he learns 

 nothing, except that some animal has lived and 



