., 5 39 



the vertebrae of the spine, while the lower jaw 

 was represented as merely a repetition of a rib. 

 So also were the collar-bone and the blade-bone, 

 on the one hand, and the several bones compos- 

 ing the pelvis, on the other. Again, the bones 

 of the upper limbs were found to be formed on 

 the same model as those of the upper jaw, and 

 to be analagous therefore to transverse processes 

 of vertebrae ; while those of the lower limbs were 

 described as cast in the same moulds as the 

 lower jaw, and analagous therefore to a rib. All 

 this is apparently very far fetched, and almost 

 ludicrous, when we look at man alone ; but 

 it is feasible enough in its application to some of 

 the lower tribes of animals, the rise from which 

 to man is so gradual, that each step is almost 

 imperceptible. Now, if these analogies be ad- 

 mitted, it is obvious that, in the process of or- 

 ganization, the granules, of which the osseous 

 tissue consists, must coalesce so as to form, in 

 every case, kinds of nuclei, of which there are 

 but few primary forms, however various may be 

 those of the bones built upon them. Nor has 

 this doctrine been confined to the bones, it 

 has been extended to all the soft parts of the 

 body. The organs, soft as well as hard, on one 

 side of the bodies of all animals, with very few 

 exceptions, are certainly repetitions of those on 

 the other : there must be some fixed laws to 

 determine this obvious instance of unity of or- 

 ganization ; and the same laws are presumed to 

 be in operation in numerous other instances, 



G 



