AND THE APE THEORY. 31 



because it is precisely in this department that 

 Virchow's only morphological experiments have been 

 made ; viz., his investigations as to the skulls of apes 

 and of men. This is precisely the 'one only point 

 on which he has sought a closer acquaintance with 

 morphology, and precisely here it is most clearly to be 

 seen how little he is acquainted with the recent 

 advances our science has made, and that he has hardly 

 any conception of the extraordinary importance to that 

 science of the theory of descent. 



The skull theory, as is well known, has for a long 

 time been a very favourite theme, not only with pro- 

 minent naturalists, but also with talented amateurs. 

 Undoubtedly the skull, viewed as the bony capsule 

 which encloses our most important organ of sense, our 

 brain, has a special claim to morphological impor- 

 tance ; for the general conformation of the skull 

 corresponds on the whole to the development of the 

 brain, and its inner surface gives an approximate idea 

 of the outer surface of the brain. In this correspon- 

 dence lies the only sound kernel of the sickly, over- 

 grown fancies of phrenology. The various development 

 of the skull allows of an approximate inference as to 

 the various degrees of development of the brain and 

 of the mental faculties. The comparative study of the 

 skulls of the vertebrate animals had excited the lively 

 interest of morphologists by the end of the last 



