Vice-President’s Address. 19 
' presents a striking resemblance to that of man, and that the 
higher anthropoid apes are less removed from man than from 
many of the lower Old World monkeys, such as the macacus 
or baboon. 
It can readily be understood that the great advances in 
our knowledge of both the arrangement and functions of the 
cerebral cortex have led to numerous investigations regard- 
ing the topographical relations of the cerebral fissures and 
convolutions to the skull and scalp. These researches are of 
great practical importance to surgeons, as enabling them to 
cut down upon any particular convolution they may desire 
to examine, but they scarcely fall within the scope of this 
address. I would desire, however, to direct the attention of 
the members of the Society to some of the casts which have 
been prepared by Professor Cunningham in illustration of 
cerebral topography. 
When we remember that, little more than fifty years ago, 
the conceptions of the position and relations of the cerebral 
fissures and convolutions were extremely vague and imper- 
fect, while the physiology of the cortex was the subject of 
vague and generally erroneous speculations, we have good 
reason for congratulation at the present state of our know- 
ledge of their anatomy and physiology. 
I have dwelt more especially upon the anatomical aspects 
of this question, as being those with which I am more 
especially familiar; I trust, however, that it will not be 
supposed that I am wanting in appreciation of the work that 
has been accomplished by the physiologist. 
No one nowadays ventures to question the utility of 
comparative anatomical investigations in extending and 
broadening our conceptions of the structure of the human 
body. As we have already shown, it is very largely by 
comparative anatomical investigations that we have been 
enabled to gain a sound morphological knowledge of the 
complex folds of the human cerebral cortex. Yet some 
would have us believe that in the sister science of physiology 
the comparative method is delusive and leads to no practical 
results. We are told with dogmatic emphasis and wearisome 
reiteration that experiments on animals are useless as 
