1874 LETTER TO PARKER 137 



accepted homologies of the ossicula auditus, elicited a 

 masterly and characteristic exposition of the series of 

 new facts, and the modifications of the theory they have 

 led to, from Reichert's first observations down to the 

 present time. The embryonic structures grew and 

 shaped themselves on the board, and shifted their 

 relations in accordance with the views of successive 

 observers, until a graphic epitome of the progress of 

 knowledge on the subject was. completed. 



He and Parker indeed (to whom he signs him- 

 self, " Ever yours amphibially ") had been busy, not 

 only throughout 1874, but for several years earlier, 

 examining the development of the Amphibia, with a 

 particular view to the whole theory of the vertebrate 

 skull, for which he had done similar work in 1857 

 and 1858. Thus in May 4, 1870, he writes to 

 Parker : 



I read all the most important part of your Frog- 

 paper last night, and a grand piece of work it is more 

 important, I think, in all its bearings than anything 

 you have done yet. 



From which premisses I am going to draw a conclusion 

 which you do not expect, namely, that the paper must 

 by no manner of means go into the Royal Society in its 

 present shape. And for the reasons following : 



In the first place, the style is ultra-Parkerian. From a 

 literary point of view, my dear friend, you remind me 

 of nothing so much as a dog going home. He has a goal 

 before him which he will certainly reach sooner or later, but 

 first he is on this side the road, and now on that ; anon, 

 he stops to scratch at an ancient rat-hole, or maybe he 

 catches sight of another dog, a quarter of a mile behind, 

 and bolts off to have a friendly, or inimical sniff. In 

 fact, his course is ... (here a tangled maze is drawn) 



