BASIS OF THE TEANSCENDENTAL. 469 



a distinctly annulated structure ( 366). This comparative 

 study of the tegumentary skeleton of the Crustacea presents 

 a great interest, in respect of physiological anatomy, of which 

 one of the most important branches is to investigate the 

 modifications which nature causes the same organic elements 

 to undergo, to adapt them to various uses, and to create with 

 analogous or homologous materials dissimilar instruments ; 

 but the limits we have assigned to these lectures do not 

 admit of our touching at greater length on this subject. 



[The question here mooted by my friend M. Milne Edwards em- 

 braces nearly the whole question of the transcendental anatomy, 

 the only view in which anatomy and zoology become a science. 

 The following observations, reprinted from my work on the 

 Races of Men, will sufficiently explain this to the reader : * 



*' By dissection the dead are analysed or reduced to certain 

 assemblages of organs, holding relations, often mechanical, to 

 each other. They all perform certain functions, some of which 

 have been imperfectly guessed at ; made out in a coarse way : 

 organs of locomotion exist bones, ligaments, joints, muscles, or 

 flesh ; organs of sensation, and thought, and will ; the brain and 

 spinal marrow ; the nerves ; organs of digestion and assimilation, 

 the stomach and digestive tube, and their appendages ; lastly, 

 organs of breathing, essential to life ; the lungs, by which we 

 draw from the air the breath of life. Bloodvessels acted on by a 

 heart carry the blood through the frame. Out of this vital fluid the 

 body is constructed, repaired, and formed. Now if we select any 

 one of these organs, or sets of organs, we shall find that, in one 

 shape or another, it extends through the whole range of vertebrate 

 animals, most probably through the entire range of animal life, 

 but under a shape or form no longer recognisable by our senses. 

 A few instances will suffice to explain this. There is no occasion 

 for any minute or technical exposition of facts, which are, as it 

 were, on the surface. Let us first turn our attention to the 

 skeleton. Not that this assemblage of levers proves better than 

 any other set of organs the unity of structure, the unity of orga- 

 nization sought 'to be superadded by the German and Sclavonian 

 philosophy, to the unity of plan laid down by Newton ; I do not 

 even think so well ; but it presents materials easier to be handled, 

 easier to be inspected, obtained, and understood. 



"The basis of the skeleton, whether mere animal or man, is a 

 series of bones jointed or articulated with each other. In common 

 language it is called the back bone. You see how violently in- 



* See the Races of Men ; a Fragment. By K. Knox. Henry Eenshaw, 

 London. This work was originally delivered in the form of Lectures. 

 It. K. 



