CHAPTEK XVI. 

 RUDIMENTARY STRUCTURES. 



IF we turn to the word ''rudiment" in any English 

 dictionary we shall find it defined somewhat after the 

 following manner, viz. " a first principle or element ; 

 the original of any thing in its first form ; that which 

 is first to he learned." While we shall also find the 

 words " rudimental " or " rudimentary " explained as 

 " initial ; pertaining to rudiments." 



. Now we may presume that it was in this sense of 

 the word "rudiment" that the terms "rudimentary 

 structures" or "rudimentary organs" were originally 

 applied to certain animal structures or organs, which, 

 while appearing to be of no use to their owners, seemed 

 to foreshadow structures fully developed and of func- 

 tional importance in other creatures. At the time 

 when these terms were first applied (it need scarcely 

 be observed) the doctrine of special creations was 

 almost universally accepted ; but even then it is ex- 

 tremely difficult to see how there could be any philo- 

 sophical defence for this use of the terms, since, if the 

 structures so named were really primitive rudiments, 

 their existence almost ipso facto implied some sort of 



genetic connection between the creatures in which 



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