276 Likenesses ; or, Philosophical Anatomy 



tions of serial, bilateral, and general homology, all pertain 

 to ' Philosophical Anatomy,' and are subjective apprehen- 

 sions of relations which have an objective existence in nature. 

 Such conceptions are similar to our conceptions of 'types,' 

 the very name of which is distasteful to so many. It is true 

 that types, as types, are not real objective entities. But 

 though, as types, they are ideal, they have none the less 

 a basis in reahty. The fact that they have no complete con- 

 crete being as types, is no more a reason for refusing to 

 recognise their existence than is the non-existence objectively 

 of species, as species, a reason for refusing to recognise the 

 individual realisation of a species, and to make use of zoolo- 

 gical and botanical specific names. The acceptance of the 

 theory of Evolution forms no bar to the reception of that view 

 which represents all organic forms as having been created 

 according to certain fixed ideal types. The two beliefs, far 

 from being reciprocally exclusive, can and do co-exist in per- 

 fect harmony in one and the same individual mind. 



But have the conceptions of philosophical anatomy any 

 other existence besides that subjective existence in the 

 human mind, and that objective foundation in the natural 

 world, neither of which can be denied ? The answer to this 

 must depend upon the philosophical system of him who 

 answers the question, and especially on his behef in, and his 

 mode of conceiving of, a first cause. 



The teaching of what we believe to be true philosophy, is 

 that the types shadowed forth to our intellects by material 

 existences are copies of divine originals, and respond to pro- 

 totypal ideas in God. Those who deny the existence of God, 

 or who deny that we can know anything as to such existence, 

 may, of course, consistently enough, deny or doubt the 

 existence of such prototypal ideas. On the other hand, the 

 teaching referred to has been ridiculed as if the maintainers 

 of it must necessarily either pretend to possess some far-^. 



