OF ORGANIC NATURE 23 



sheathed in the horny hoof of the fore-foot : in the hind- 

 limb, one thigh-bone, two leg-bones, ankle-bones, and 

 middle foot-bones, ending in the three bones of a toe, the 

 last of which is encased in the hoof of the hind-foot. Now 

 turn to the Dog's skeleton. We find identically the same 

 bones, but more of them, there being more toes in each 

 foot, and hence more toe-bones. 



Well, that is a very curious thing I The fact is that the 

 Dog and the Horse when one gets a look at them without 

 the outward impediments of the skin are found to be 

 made in very much the same sort of fashion. And if I 

 were to make a transverse section of the Dog, I should find 

 the same organs that I have already shown you as forming 

 parts of the Horse. Well, here is another skeleton that 

 of a kind of Lemur you see he has just the same bones ; 

 and if I were to make a transverse section of it, it would 

 be just the same again. In your mind's eye turn him 

 round, so as to put his backbone in a position inclined 

 obliquely upwards and forwards, just as in the next three 

 diagrams, which represent the skeletons of an Orang, a 

 Chimpanzee, a Gorilla, and you find you have no trouble 

 in identifying the bones throughout ; and lastly turn to 

 the end of the series, the diagram representing a man's 

 skeleton, and still you find no great structural feature 

 essentially altered. There are the same bones in the 

 same relations. From the Horse we pass on and on, with 

 gradual steps, until we arrive at last at the highest known 

 forms. On the other hand, take the other line of dia- 

 grams, and pass from the Horse downwards in the scale 

 to this fish ; and still, though the modifications are vastly 

 greater, the essential framework of the organization remains 

 unchanged. Here, for instance, is a Porpoise ; here is its 

 strong backbone, with the cavity running through it, which 

 contains the spinal cord ; here are the ribs, here the 

 shoulder-blade ; here is the little short upper-arm bone, 

 here are the two forearm bones, the wrist-bone, and the 

 finger-bones. 



Strange, is it not, that the Porpoise should have in this 

 queer-looking affair its flapper (as it is called), the same 

 fundamental elements as the fore-leg of the Horse or the 

 Dog, or the Ape or Man ; and here you will notice a very 

 curious thing, the hinder limbs are absent. Now, let us 

 make another jump. Let us go to the Codfish : here you 

 ee is the forearm, in this large pectoral fin carrying your 



