ro.MI'ARATIVK ANAToMV 



J"7 



80,000 persona, working unceasingly from the creation of m*n 



t<> the present day, to count the number (if minute being! oon- 



tainod only in the space of two miles <>f ti,,- turlud ocean water. 



And <>f tin- myriads of othor creatures whi.-h Imi there imagi- 



m.iy disport itself without limit, and min.l lose itself in 



it hornless abyss of figures. 



No science affords to us more conclusive evidence of design 

 than that of Comparative Anatomy. Kxmn. oly the 



organisation of any being how admirably is its outward form 

 adapted for the sphere from which you removed it ; what won- 

 ilrrful genius is displayed in the arrangement of its individual 

 tissues ; and how perfectly each perform their reHp.-.-t i > fun.-- 

 tions. This evidence of design is not confined to a few isolated 

 organisms, hut pervades the whole animal world, from the 

 Himplicity of the Grogarinidaa to that crowning effort of Qod's 

 work, the human being. At the very threshold of life tho 

 plant ami animal worlds claim kindred. Both commence their 

 basis as cellular structures, with difficulty distinguishable, and 

 both proceed through an infinity of grades, till Nature exhausts 

 herself in tho production of animals which, by their upright 

 forms, their expressive and intellectual features, their power 

 of communication by language, and tho arrangement of their 

 limbs constructed to serve the purposes of progression, pre- 

 hension, and labour, far outstrip all other animals in point 

 of superiority and usefulness ; and of plants whoso size is 

 simply gigantic, and whose ago we can only conjecture; but it 

 is not incompatible with fact to suppose that some may have 

 been silent witnesses to the disasters of the terrible Noochian 

 Deluge. 



Nutrition is necessary for the purpose of supporting life, 

 and we find it common to all animals without exception. In 

 the lowest organisms this function is effected by the simple 

 process of imbibition. But tho majority of animals are pro- 

 vided with organs of locomotion by which they are enabled to 

 seek and obtain their food, and are further provided with a 

 canal in which the food is lodged until sufficiently prepared for 

 utilisation. In the lowest orders the digestive canal is nothing 

 more than a simple continuous tube. As, however, we proceed 

 through the successive links in the great chain of organised 

 creation, wo have seen that this tube becomes more complex in 

 character. The orifice is guarded with lips and movable jaws 

 armed with teeth for the purpose of breaking down hard sub- 

 stances and rendering them fit for swallowing ; and a part of 

 the tube becomes dilated into one or more chambers, for the 

 purpose of lodging the food while it undergoes both physical 

 and chemical change. The succeeding part of the tube, or 

 intestines, is variously lengthened, according to the habits of 

 the animals. In the digestive apparatus of the insect tribe, 

 both carnivorous and herbivorous, we meet with a multitude of 

 new and peculiar formations. Some of these animals undergo 

 transformation or metamorphosis. In the larval condition the 

 stomach is of proportionate size to the amount of food required. 

 It has been computed that caterpillars sometimes devour and 

 digest three times their own weight of aliment in twenty-four 

 hours. The perfect condition having boon attained, the diges- 

 tive tract is altered to meet the new conditions which the 

 change and smaller quantity of tho food demand. Those 

 insects which live on hard animal substances are provided with 

 firm horny jaws sometimes having tooth-like edges large in 

 proportion to the size of the animal. In bees, wasps, ants, etc., 

 the organs of mastication have a suction apparatus appended, 

 which is further developed in gnats and flies. The latter are 

 also provided with minute lancet-like darts for tho purpose 

 of penetrating the integuments of other animals. 



In tho vertebrate kingdom the evidences of design are not 

 more wonderful, though more evidently manifested. The out- 

 ward form of fishes, diverse to an extraordinary degree, and 

 the general structure embracing the fins, by which rapid 

 movement is effected ; the digestive tract, short and wide, for 

 the simple reason that the food on which these animals live is, 

 as a rule, so nearly allied to their own tissues, that it requires 

 but little preparation ; the respiratory gills, whose delicacy of 

 mechanism is so beautiful as to be beyond expression ; and, in 

 fact, the whole system is so wonderfully contrived, that we 

 are lost in silent admiration at the adapting power of the 

 Almighty Creator. 



In the Batrachia connesting links between the aquatic and 

 terrestrial scales though but onen removed from the fish 



tribe, a huff* stride i* evident toward* thai perfection of 

 tore found in aome of the hifflMr lorn* of life. There i* 

 similarity, a* mentioned in the leeaoa on the** aoiiBal*. fa the 



moth and fro* rtaaorp 



.. i 



):.- i.. ... 



imperfect to the perfect condition u. indeed. a wonderful pro- 

 OOM for effecting the completion of MI r^'tfj 



In bird- oar attention U again powerfully attracted by the 

 same evidence of deeign, bnt displayed in being* whose iplme 

 i* to move in air. Here we find the bone* iigbt and pn ia<i*ieil 

 with air, the epidermis developed into featben, and the general 

 structure of the body that beet adapted for flying ; while in 

 some we find webbed feet, to enable them to move on the 

 surface of water. The bills are to diepoeed M to serve the end 

 which habit* and food require ; and M regards the digestive 

 tract, tho stomach presenU every gradation in structure, from 

 the membranous sac of the carnivorous tribe* to the trne 

 muscular gizzard of graminivorous bird* varying according 

 a* the food consists of animal or vegetable materials. It u the 

 covering of birds which adds, probably more than any other 

 part, to the wonderful evidence of design. As Paley say*, 

 " This cannot escape the meet vulgar observation. Iu light- 

 ness, its smoothness, its warmth, the disposition of the finthati 

 all inclined backwards, the down about their stem, the over- 

 lapping of their tips, their different configuration in different 

 parts, not to mention tho variety of their colours, constitute a 

 vestment for the body so beautiful, and so appropriate to the 

 life which tho animal is to lead, as that I think we should hare 

 no conception of anything equally perfect if we had never seen 

 it, or can now imagine anything more to." 



In mammals the most complex organisation prevails. In 

 each one a set of organs is devoted to the performance of 

 functions requisite for maintenance, reproduction, etc. The 

 digestive apparatus in man and the higher apee is simple ; bat 

 in some lower in the order it is more complicated, especially 

 in tho herbivorous mammals. The respiratory, nervous, mus- 

 cular, and glandular systems are alike admirably arranged, and 

 work so harmoniously, that under natural conditions the system 

 maintains a healthy balance. There i* yet one system, the 

 absorbent, bnt too often ignored, yet perhaps the most delicate 

 of all. It is that by which the lymph and chyle, from various 

 parts of the system and intestines, are carried into the blood, 

 tho former to be again utilised, the latter a* new material. 

 This process is effected by a chain of glands and a delicate net- 

 work of vessels, which are distributed over various parts of the 

 body. These are found in all the Yertebrata, bnt are most 

 numerous in mammals. Many of the different order* of 

 mammals possess a great diversity in their outward appear' 

 ances, habits, and sphere of action. Thus, the mole, with iU 

 short, powerful, and well-developed fore-limbs, and its glossy 

 fur, so arranged that the hairs composing it will lie smooth in 

 any direction, is admirably adapted to live and move in it* 

 underground tenements. The bat tribe, varying in cue and 

 situation, from the little English bat to the Ptenput Javowicu* 

 are mammals modified to lead the life of birds. 



Tho well-known and so oft-described caraivora, the oetaeea, 

 or whale tribe, in which the adaptation of tho mammiferom 

 structure to the life of a fish is remarkably displayed, the 

 lemurs, the monkeys of the Old and New Worlds, etc., poae*i 

 remarkable differences from each other in outward form. 



But the theme is inexhaustible, whether we examine the 

 jelly-like rhizopods, the Radiolaria, with their nlioified skele- 

 tons, contributors to the earth's strata; the Spongide, once 

 supposed vegetables ; the innumerable Infusoria, Hydrosoa, 

 Actinozoa, Polyxoa ; the double-necked jar-like AscmHraida, or 

 those fabricators of the bivalve shells, the UtnnlHhranohiata i 

 the host of star-fishes, sea-urchins and cucumbers, ohmifted a* 

 Echinodermata ; the wheel animalcules and their repulsive allies ; 

 the almost indescribable Crustacea, with every other order de- 

 monstrate beyond the power of refutation the unity of design 

 and identity of operation. Man, at the head of both division* 

 of the animal kingdom, while humbling hinumlf with the 

 thought that he is merely a mammal, must yei glory in the fact 

 that the all-wise Creator has endowed hid with attribute* 

 pOMOetod by no other animal* ; while consideration of the pecu- 

 liar structure of the organs of hi* frame will afford proof* of 

 their being constructed with reference to faculties of a higher 

 and more extensive range than those of any. even the 

 favoured species, of the brute creation. 



