xx STUDIES IN THE EVOLUTION OF ANIMALS 



of both professor and student, and to all earnest investigators, who 

 wish to get to the bottom of creation by the method of evolution. 

 As to the general reader, he may probably say : ' Non ragioniam 

 di lor, guarda e passa.' 



This troublesome multiplicity of useless words has certainly 

 become a formidable difficulty to those who may wish to pursue 

 scientific investigations, and an obstruction to the progress of 

 Science ; for if, before attempting to devote one's time to the study 

 of the * Philosophy of the Sciences/ one has to learn a language as 

 difficult as that of cuneiform inscriptions, it will deter many from 

 embarking in such a pursuit. 



Is it any wonder that ordinary people do not think that 

 scientific men are either so sensible and unselfish as they may think 

 themselves to be ? The curious part is that tyros may perhaps think 

 that these strange and unpronounceable words are the science, and 

 may startle their friends with the extent of scientific knowledge 

 they have acquired at the schools, colleges, or universities ! 



Are then the facts of the universe, and the discoveries made by 

 scientific explorers, to remain the possession of the few, by being 

 locked up in a language which only means ' hieroglyphics ' to 

 most ordinary men and women ? 



It is truly touching to contemplate the helplessness of the 

 human mind in face of the prodigious number of variations it 

 has to deal with in studying organic forms. 



Mr. Stebbing, in the before-mentioned work, p. 43, says : ' It 

 may here be mentioned that the full number of joints for a 

 malacostracean trunk leg is seven. The afflicted naturalist has for 

 many years had to deal with these seven under the following 

 names, coxa, basis, ischium, merus, carpus, propodus, dactylus, 

 which respectively signify hip, foot, socket of thigh joint, wrist, 

 forefoot, and finger or toe. 



