IV THE GENEALOGY OF ANIMALS 113 



the mere ticking of the clock, which he mistakes 

 for its function. And there seems to be no reply 

 to this inquiry, any more than to the further, not 

 irrational, question, why trouble one's self about 

 matters which are out of reach, when the working 

 of the mechanism itself, which is of infinite 

 practical importance, affords scope for all our 

 energies ? 



Professor Haeckel has invented a new and con- 

 venient name " Dysteleology," for the study of 

 the " purposelessnesses " which are observable in 

 living organisms such as the multitudinous cases 

 of rudimentary and apparently useless structures. 

 I confess, however, that it has often appeared to 

 me that the facts of Dysteleology cut two ways. 

 If we are to assume, as evolutionists in general do, 

 that useless organs atrophy, such cases as the 

 existence of lateral rudiments of toes, in the foot 

 of a horse, place us in a dilemma. For, either 

 these rudiments are of no use to the animal, in 

 which case, considering that the horse has existed 

 in its present form since the Pliocene epoch, they 

 surely ought to have disappeared ; or they are of 

 some use to the animal, in which case they are of 

 no use as arguments against Teleology. A similar, 

 but still stronger, argument may be based upon 

 the existence of teats, and even functional mam- 

 mary glands, in male mammals. Numerous cases 

 of " Gynaecomasty," or functionally active breasts 

 in men, are on record, though there is no mam- 



VOL. II I 



