12 THE HISTOEY OF CREATION. 



caused the earlier naturalists greater difficulty tlian tlie 

 explanation of the so-called " rudimentary organs" — those 

 parts in animal and vegetable bodies which really have no 

 function, which have no physiological importance, and yet 

 exist in form. These parts deserve the most careful atten- 

 tion, aithouo^h most unscientific men know little or nothino^ 

 about them. Almost every organism, almost every animal 

 and plant possesses, besides the obviously useful arrange- 

 ments of its organization, other arrangements the purpose 

 of which it is utterly impossible to make out. 



Examples of this are found everywhere. In the embryos 

 of many ruminating animals — among others, in our common 

 cattle — fore-teeth, or incisors, are placed in the mid-bone of 

 the upper jaw, which never fully develop, and therefore 

 serve no purpose. The embryos of many whales — ^which 

 afterwards possess the well-known whalebone instead of 

 teeth, yet have before they are born, and while they take no 

 nourishment, teeth in their jaws, which set of teeth never 

 comes into use. Moreover, most of the higher animals pos- 

 sess muscles which are never employed ; even man has such 

 rudimentary muscles. Most of us are incapable of moving 

 our ears as we wish, although the muscles for this move- 

 ment exist, and although individual persons who have 

 taken the trouble to exercise these muscles do succeed in 

 moving their ears. It is still possible, by special exercise, 

 by the persevering influence of the will upon the nervous 

 system, to reanimate the almost extinct activity in the 

 existing but imperfect organs, which are on the road to 

 complete disappearance. On the other hand, we can no 

 longer do this with another set of small rudimentary 

 muscles, which still exist in the cartilage of the outer ear. 



