50 THE FUNCTIONS OF LIFE. 



been modelled. Thus the discovery of a muti- 

 lated portion of the skeleton of a fossil animal, 

 gives to the physiologist, who is conversant with 

 the details of comparative anatomy, a knowledge 

 of the general structure and habits of that animal, 

 though all other traces of its existence may have 

 been swept away, amidst the primeval revolu- 

 tions of the globe.* 



Not only does this tendency to conform to 

 particular types obtain in all organic formations, 

 but further inquiry leads to the conclusion that 

 the deviations from these standard forms, far 

 from being arbitrary, are themselves referable to 

 particular laws. The regulating principle of the 

 variations is subordinate to higher views, and 

 has reference to the respective objects and des- 

 tination of each particular species in the general 

 system of created beings. Nature, as far as we 

 can discern, appears, in conformity with these 

 intentions, first to have laid doAvn certain great 

 plans of functions to which she has adapted the 

 structure of the organs ; the minor objects and 

 more subordinate functions being accommo- 

 dated to this general design. Hence arises the 

 necessary and reciprocal dependence of each 

 organ and of each function on every other ; and 

 hence are deduced what have been termed the 



• See Cuvier's " Discours sur les revolutions de la surface 

 du globe," p. 47, prefixed to the first volume of his '* Ossemens 

 Fossiles." 



