NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 39 



English under the title of ' Darwinism tested by the Science of 

 Language,' is one of the most remarkable supports to the Dar- 

 winian doctrine that has ever appeared from the philological side. 

 The present essay deals with so many subjects, — inclusive of 

 witches and intermediate intelligences, — that it is difficult to 

 give any idea of its scope, and the "philosoijhical" portion is 

 altogether beyond us. Our opinion as to its value has been 

 based chiefly on the chapters which deal with subjects to which 

 our own studies and those of our readers have been more par- 

 ticularly devoted, and we are compelled to say that on the subjects 

 of Homology and Embryology Mr. Kirby has been writing about 

 what he clearly does not understand. He writes (on p. 79) of the 

 "skin" and the "lining of the stomach" in Hydra, and declares 

 that " the functions of life" "devolve almost entirely" upon the 

 former ; this is followed by a statement which, if it has any 

 meaning at all, is absolutely ridiculous— " Even in the highest 

 animals, the functions of different organs are interchangeable to 

 a limited extent"; but not even an acrobat can walk on his hands 

 and feed himself with his feet. " The Amphibia, Vertebrata, and 

 (with some fossil exceptions) also the Reptilia, have four limbs, 

 normally possessing five digits." Again, on p. 81, we learn that 

 " in nearly all Vertebrata," the neck is composed of seven ver- 

 tebrae. The old story of the sacral vertebrae varying in number 

 is repeated without any reference to the views of Gegenbaur, who 

 speaks of sacral and pseudo-sacral vertebrae, or to the teaching of 

 A. Milne-Edwards, who tells us that " the posterior limit of the 

 sacral region is characterised, not by the union of the different 

 osseous pieces, ivhich varies ivith age," &c. Then we have the 

 old objections to the vermiform appendix in the human coecum, 

 and the idea is derided that this exists for the purpose of 

 rendering his internal anatomy more like that of a Kangaroo. 

 Mr. Kirby says, " Can anything be more preposterous than 

 such a suggestion ? " Truly there cannot ; the apex of the 

 Kangaroo's cfficum, as is well known, is " rounded " ; it is the 

 Wombat that has a vermiform appendix. The eyes of Cephalopods 

 are said to be perfectly homologous with those of the Vertebrata ; 

 but there is no notice of their different developmental historj'. 

 Our author seems to think that the epipubes or so-called mar- 

 supial bones of certain mammals have a relation to the secondary 

 sexual characters, for he says that the development of mammae 



