2 SHOULDER-GIRDLE AND BREAST-BONE. 



the counterparts of those great outer shoulder-bones of the Osseous Fishes, which Professor Owen 

 has called " coracoids." It will be seen, however, that I still wholly reject the nomenclature which 

 the same eminent anatomist has given to these and to the rest of the shoulder and fore-fin bones 

 of Fishes. 



These subjects will be treated of in due time ; and although I wish to work peacefully, yet 

 it will be seen from the Abstract of my Paper that controversy was one of the exciting causes 

 of this particular line of research. 



If any apology be needed for writing so large a book upon so restricted a subject, I would 

 say that it is a narrow balk running through a very wide field, and that its cultivation will 

 remove many an unsightly error and reveal a number of beautiful and valuable truths. 



Moreover, I do not believe that the anatomist exists who is strong enough to master the 

 facts of anatomy whilst they are bound up in one faggot or " system ;" but, taken part by part, 

 they may be mastered by the most unpretending worker. 



Then, in the times to come, when we have " prepared our work without and made it fit for 

 ourselves in the field," we shall be able to build a " system of anatomy " which shall truly re- 

 present Nature, and not be a mere reflexion of the mind of some one of her talented 

 observers. 



The plan of the present paper is to begin the study of the Shoulder-girdle in the Rays, where 

 it is most largely developed and most generalised ; and then, tracing its growth in some of the 

 chief Ichthyic types, to follow up its development until we come to Man, at the head of the 

 Vertebrate series. 



As the lowest or Suctorial Fishes have no limb-girdles, I am obliged to begin some little way 

 up in the Class : it is the same with regard to the sternum ; only that I have to ascend much 

 further ; for the lowest Amphibians, as well as the whole of the Fishes, are devoid of this part of 

 the endo-skeleton. 



I want to keep entirely clear, not only of teleology itself, but also of all terms that have a 

 teleological meaning ; and this not from any disposition to depreciate that very delightful aspect 

 of the vertebrate framework, but because I wish to treat of the morphology of the parts, and not 

 of their often evident but not unfrequently obscure uses. 



We cannot take a step in this department of anatomical science without a thorough ac- 

 quaintance, not only with the histology of the skeleton, but also with that of the rest of the 

 tissues that go to make a vertebrate animal. 



It will be necessary to keep the histology of these parts very much in the background, 

 however, partly for want of space, and partly also for fear of breaking the thread of my argument 

 by introducing too much collateral material. 



I must state, notwithstanding, that as much labour has been spent in making most accurate 

 histological observations as in dissecting and depicting the grosser tissue-masses that form the 

 Sternum and the Shoulder-girdle. 



The relation of histology to morphology gives rise to the want of a few new terms for the 

 varieties of the ossific process (ostosis) : for these I am indebted to Professor Huxley, the " man 

 of my counsel " in matters of this kind. 



The morphological nomenclature will be found to be extremely simple, and based entirely 

 on human-anatomy terms. These will merely be modified by having distinguishing prefixes 

 fastened to them. 



