UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 97 



of its own ; all its parts have a mutual relation 

 to each other ; and each of them, taken sepa- 

 rately, will, therefore, clearly point out the other 

 parts to which it must have belonged. Suppose 

 a ploughman turns up in a field a few bones, 

 the only conclusion he can draw is, that some 

 unknown animal had died near that spot ; but 

 the comparative anatomist can tell the size of 

 the whole animal, its general form, the structure 

 of its jaws and teeth, and, consequently, whether 

 it belonged to the herbivorous or carnivorous 

 tribes. None of these separate parts can vary 

 their forms without a corresponding variation 

 in the other parts of the animal ; and, conse- 

 quently, each of those parts, taken separately, 

 indicates all the others to which it had be- 

 longed. 



If the stomach of an animal is organized so as 

 to digest only flesh, then the jaws and the incisive 

 teeth must be constructed for devouring flesh ; 

 the claws for seizing the prey ; and the entire 

 system of the limbs for pursuing and catching- 

 it. Every one of those organs is indispensable 

 in the structure of carnivorous animals ; so that 

 by the bones of the paw, or the arm, or the 

 shoulder-blade, or the leg, the construction and 

 disposition of all the rest may be determined ; 

 and, consequently, the whole form, species, 

 genus, and class of animal must necessarily be 

 discovered by the examination of a single bone. 



K 



