THE FUNCTIONS OF LIFE. T)/) 



tion of structure was necessarily accompanied 

 by a gradation of faculties : the object of each 

 change of type being to attain higher objects, 

 and to advance a further step towards the ulti- 

 mate ends of the animal creation. Many appa- 

 rent anomalies which are inexplicable upon any 

 other supposition, are easily reconcilable to this 

 theory. The developements of structure be- 

 longing to a particular type being always pro- 

 spective, are not completed in the inferior orders 

 of the groupe formed upon that model, but 

 remain more or less imperfect, although each 

 organ always fully answers the particular pur- 

 pose of the individual animal. But it sometimes 

 happens that the imperfection of an organ is so 

 great, in consequence of its developement having 

 proceeded to a very small extent, as to render 

 it wholly useless in that particular species, al- 

 though in a higher race of animals it fully per- 

 forms its proper function. Thus we shall find 

 that rudiments of feet are contained within the 

 bodies of various kinds of serpents, which can ob- 

 viously not be serviceable as organs of progres- 

 sion. In the young of the whale, before its birth, 

 there is found in the lower jaw, a row of small 

 teeth, which do not rise above the gums, and 

 can, therefore, be of no use as instruments of mas- 

 tication. Their farther growth is arrested and 

 they are afterwards obliterated. This imperfect 

 or rudimentary condition of an organ indicates 



