JEFFRIES WYMAN 205 



of this sort known to me occurs in his early and very suggestive 

 paper, "Analogies Which Exist Between the Structure of the Teeth 

 of the Lepidostei (Gars or Gar-pikes), and those of the Labyrintho- 

 donts (extinct Amphibia)." Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., Proceedings, 

 1843, v l- I > PP- *3 i-i3 2 > tne report (for which, indeed, he may 

 not have been responsible, says: " Other analogies were found in 

 the osteology, but of these he proposes to speak in a future com- 

 munication." No such appears to have been made. 



Wyman's language, in both speech and writing, was always sim- 

 ple and unaffected. The single instance of what might be termed, 

 in the usual sense, "fine writing," occurs in his notice of the life 

 and writings of Waldo I. Burnett, while speaking of the cell: 



"The nucleated cell! that minute organic structure which 

 the unaided eye cannot discern, yet constituting the first stage of 

 every living being, the seat of so many of the complex phenomena 

 of animal and organic life, and the agent by which even the mind 

 itself retains its grasp, and exerts its influence upon the living 

 structures with which it is associated." 



Wyman certainly never aimed at epigram, yet some of his say- 

 ings deserve at least to be called aphorisms. Of the following 

 the first two have been quoted already: "For the purposes of 

 comparison there is no such thing as too many, since everything 

 turns on averages." "Everything that can be reinforced by experi- 

 ment should be." "The isolated study of anything in Natural 

 History is a fruitful source of error." "No single experiment in 

 physiology is worth anything." "Here [as to the form of the bee's 

 cell], as is so often the case elsewhere in nature, the type-form is 

 an ideal one, and with this, real forms seldom or never coincide." 

 "The cat's anatomy should be done first because it would also 

 serve as an introduction to human anatomy and thus become an 

 important aid to medical education." "In organizing your 

 department aim to fulfil these four conditions, viz. (i) Let the 

 museum, laboratory and lecture-room be on one floor. (2) Light 

 the museum from above. (3) Select representative forms; for 

 what you want pay liberally if necessary; decline other things even 

 as gifts. (4) Give not more than two lectures a week, so as to 



