486 



THE MECHANICAL FUNCTIONS. 



yet there are found, in the hinder and lower part 

 of the trunk, concealed in the flesh, and quite 

 detached from the spine, two small bones, appa- 

 rently corresponding to pelvic bones, for the 

 presence of which no more probable reason can 

 be assigned than the tendency to preserve an 

 analogy with the more developed structures of 

 the same type. 



A similar adherence to the law of uniformity 

 in the plan of construction of all the animals be- 

 longing to the same class, is strikingly shown in 

 the conformation of the bones 

 of the anterior extremities of 

 the cetacea ; for although they 

 present, externally, no resem- 

 blance to the leg and foot of 

 a quadruped, being fashioned 

 into fin-like members, with a 

 flat oval surface for striking 

 the water, yet when the bones 

 are stripped of the thick in- 

 tegument which covers them 

 and conceals their real form, 

 we fijad them (as may be 

 seen in Fig. 216) exhibiting 

 the same divisions into carpal 

 and metacarpal bones, and 

 IDhalanges of fingers, as exist 

 in the most highly developed organization, not 

 merely of a quadruped, but also of a monkey, 

 and even of man. 



