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Whence the particular form of the vertebree? If Evolution 
be true, then the ancestors of fish were invertebrates. Why 
then a vertebral column at all? And, if one, why this par- 
ticular form, which beyond doubt is the one most adapted to 
the wants of the animal ? 
5. Such a vertebral column as this, while it provides for 
great flexibility in one place, does not provide for movement 
in any other, and so would not be adapted to the wants of 
such a reptile as a serpent. A glance at the structure of the 
vertebral column of the Ophidians reveals a manifest adapta- 
tion of means to ends. Hach vertebra is furnished with a 
ball at the one end and a cup at the other end: the ball of 
one vertebra fits into the cup of the other, thus forming a 
column which is flexible in more than one plane. This great 
flexibility, however, is gained at the expense of stability, and 
so a compensation is provided. Each vertebra is furnished 
with a number of lateral appendages, which, fitting into each 
other somewhat after the fashion of a tenon and mortise-joint 
in carpentry, effectually control the lateral movement of the 
column, thus securing both strength and flexibility. On the 
hypothesis of Evolution by natural selection, these alterations 
and additions to the spinal column were acquired by minute 
modifications of existing processes. But the examination of the 
vertebral column of the two classes will show the observer 
that such a view is most untenable. It is difficult to conceive 
of any slight modification of a biconcave vertebra which would 
end in one end becoming convex, when the former was the most 
adapted to the mode of life of the creature ; or of the gradual 
loosing of the spinal processes of a fish so as to produce the 
movable ribs of a serpent. 
But why should any fish ever have made an effort to 
change its condition when its organisation and consti- 
tution were finely adjusted to the elements in which 
it was placed. With a boundless ocean through which 
to roam at will, and with an abundant supply of food, 
it was in harmony with its environment; and so no 
advantage could accrue to the individual by a change. Not 
only so, but the very effort to effect a change would have 
been the first of a series of desperate struggles. The effort 
to breathe air not dissolved in water would result in inflamed 
branchia. And if, as we are told it did, the swim-bladder thus 
received its first impetus toward acquiring the structure of a 
lung, the individual who made the attempt would return to 
its native element with both gills and swim bladder less 
adapted than before to perform their proper functions. The 
creature would thus be less in harmony with its environment, 
