484 ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 



Second. — That, apparently, capillary vessels exist, uniting the 

 arterial and venous branchlets ; and that the blood system is com- 

 posed of vessels and sinuses with proper walls, therefore constituting 

 a closed system. 



Third. — That the so-called water system, for the ingress of water 

 from the exterior, does not exist ; but that the chambers to which this 

 function has been attributed compose a diffused kidney — the glandular 

 appendages in the renal chamber being for the purpose of eliminating the 

 peculiarly urinary matters, while the fluids pass off through the agency 

 of the capillaries of the various organs that lie in the several chambers. 



Fourth. — That a rudimentary absorbent system exists in these 

 animals, the intestinal veins assuming, in addition to their own, the 

 function of lacteals, and the so-called fleshy appendages of the branchial 

 hearts acting, probably, in the capacity of a general lymphatic system. 



Fifth. — That there is no pericardium properly so called. 



Sixth. — That the muscular fibre of the systemic heart is of the 

 striated variety, as is also apparently that of the branchial hearts. 



Seventh.— -That the cephalic arteries, and those supplying the 

 fins, are provided with bulbous, muscular enlargements, probably for 

 the purpose of regulating the flow of the blood. 



Eighth. — That the surface of the brain of Octopus vulgaris exhibits 

 inequalities resembling rudimentary convolutions, and that the pedal 

 nerves arise by double roots ; both conditions approximating to the 

 higher standard of the Vertebrata. 



Ninth. — That the results of analysis of the nervous system corro- 

 borate the deductions derived from embryology as to the homological 

 import of the parts. 



XLIX. — On Correlations oe Growth, with a Special Example 

 from the Anatomy oe a Porpoise, by Gr. Eolleston, M.D., 

 E.L.S., Linacre Professor of Physiology in the University of 

 Oxford. 



Philosophers of other countries have often taken occasion to remark, 

 and in no complimentary terms, upon the utilitarian tendency con- 

 stantly displayed by the English mind. Our everlasting seeking 

 after hidden purposes, our infantine inquisitiveness after final causes 

 in biological as well as other investigations, has frequently called 

 forth contemptuous comments from foreigners, who happened to be 

 acquainted with Bacon's famous comparison of final causes to vestal 

 virgins. But in these latter days it has come to be acknowledged, 

 even in England, that there are many structures in normal organisms 

 for the existence of which no teleological explanation will suffice ; 

 and it is right to say that in no other country, and in no other time 

 than ours, have theories for the explanation of such phenomena been 

 more clearly enunciated. Our natural hankering after hypothesis, 



