14 



THE PRESENT CONDITION 



that is, if I were to saw a dead horse across, I should find 

 that, if I left out the details, and supposing I took my 

 n through the anterior region, and through the fore- 

 limbs, I should have here this kind of section of the body 

 i>. Here would be the upper part of the animal 

 that great mass of bones that we spoke of as the spine 

 (a, Fig. 1). Hire I should have the alimentary canal 

 (b, Fig. 1). Here I should have [the heart (c 9 Fig. 1) ; 

 und then you see, there would be a kind of double tube, 

 the whole being inclosed within the hide; the spinal 

 marrow would be placed in the upper tube (a, Fig. 1), 

 and in the lower tube (d d, Fig. 1) there would be the 



alimentary canal (b), and 

 the heart (c) ; and here I 

 shall have the legs proceed- 

 ing from each side. For 

 simplicity's sake, Irepresent 

 them merely as stumps (e e, 

 Fig. 1). Now that is a 

 horse as mathematicians 

 would say reduced to its 

 most simple expression. 

 Carry that in your minds, 

 if you please, as a simplified 

 idea of the structure of the 

 Horse. The considerations 

 which I have now put before 

 you belong to what we 

 technically call the ' Anatomy ' of the Horse. Now, suppose 

 we go to work upon these several parts, flesh and hair, and 

 .nd bone, and lay open these various organs with our 

 scalpels, and examine them by means of our magnifying- 

 glasses, and see what we can make of them. We shall find 

 that the flesh is made up of bundles of strong fibres. The 

 brain and nerves, too, we shall find, are made up of fibres, and 

 these queer-looking things that are called ganglionic 

 corpuscles. If we take a slice of the bone and examine it, 

 we shall find that it is very like this diagram of a section 

 of the bone of an ostrich, though differing, of course, in 

 some details ; and if we take any part whatsoever of the 

 tissue, and examine it, we shall find it all has a minute 

 structure, visible only under the microscope. All these 

 parts constitute microscopic anatomy or ' Histology.' 

 These parts are constantly being changed ; every part is 



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