NATURE 



159 



THURSDAY, JULY 2, 1874 



ON OSTEOLOGICAL MONOGRAPH-WRITING 



IN biological Societies, and in otliers which have any 

 biological interests, there is a question which is daily 

 becoming more and more prominent ; one that if not 

 fully investigated shortly will lead to results which are far 

 from advantageous to the science itself, and will throw 

 discredit on its votaries ; whilst, if some decided opinion 

 is expressed in such a manner that no doubt can be enter- 

 tained as to its true meaning, much hard work and 

 unnecessary disappointment may be easily saved. 



Some half century or so ago, when zoology was just 

 commencing a new lease of life, as it may be termed, the 

 opportunities afforded to those who were studying the 

 anatomy and physiology of the animal kingdom were 

 comparatively few. Museums were scarce ; most of those 

 existing being very incomplete in an educational point of 

 view, and it was almost impossible to procure specimens 

 of any desired species by means of a pecuniary offer. 

 The case is now, however, extremely different. Museums 

 arc numerous, and are daily becoming more so. The 

 facilities for locomotion make it easy for anyone anxious 

 to see what cannot be obtained nearer, to visit the British 

 INIuseum or that of the Royal College of Surgeons ; there 

 arc dealers who are able to offer tj pical specimens at a 

 moderate price, and to obtain the rarer forms if necessary. 

 Such being the case it must be evident that a certain 

 change ought to have come over zoological literature, in 

 order that it should progress with the science itself What 

 was then indispensable is now no longer required, and 

 that which was then unknown takes its place. Never- 

 theless there are a few comparative anatomists who do 

 not seem to realise the change which has so gradually and 

 so markedly occurred. They think and write with the 

 ideas of fifty years ago, and, what is more, expect us to 

 appreciate their productions as if they were not the least 

 (/<• Irop. 



Formerly, no doubt, it was extremely valuable to have 

 descriptions given in print of the detailed anatomy of 

 particular species. Of their osteology this was especially 

 the case. These descriptions drew attention to previously 

 scarcely recognised characters, and, what was perhaps 

 still more important, did much to fix the nomenclature 

 of the skeleton generally ; because, though this had been 

 previously accomplished as far as human anatomy is con- 

 cerned, there are many reasons, known to all practical 

 students, which make the names adopted in anthro- 

 potomy unsatisfactory and incomplete when they have to 

 be applied to the lower vertebrata. 



The case is now very different. Skeletons of almost all 

 known animals being contained in museums, and those of 

 common species being abundant, any student prosecuting 

 his investigations in the spirit which insures successful 

 results, will find no difficulty in obtaining opportunities 

 of handling and comparing the bones themselves, and 

 will have but httle or no need to refer to plates or de- 

 scriptions, which are never so satisfactory as the speci- 

 mens themselves, and are often as dil'ficult to _obtain as 

 they are expensive to purchase. 



It therefore becomes a question, and a not unimportant 

 Vol. X. — No. 244 



one either, as to whether it is to the best interests of our 

 learned Societies to expend their funds in encouraging the 

 further publication of long and exhaustive descriptions of 

 the osteology of common types, and the execution of a 

 large number of elaborate drawings of bones, whose 

 intrinsic worth is considerably less than the cost of their 

 putting on wood or stone. In several instances within 

 the last two or three years, lengthy papers, without doubt 

 the result of much time and attention, have been presented 

 to different Societies, evidently with a full idea on the part 

 of the authors that their monographs will be published, 

 unopposed, in the form in which they send them in ; and 

 yet these many pages are found to contain nothing more 

 than the monotonous and unsuggestive descriptions of 

 the bones, one by one, and surface by surface, profusely 

 illustrated, of animals as common as some of the best- 

 known Marsupial mammals or Struthious birds. 



A full account of the myology, neurology, or visceral 

 anatomy of almost any animal has a value which no one 

 would wish to depreciate in the least, because these parts 

 are dilBcult to preserve, and it requires a special training, 

 together with considerable experience in one direction, 

 before such investigations can be undertaken, as they are 

 but too infrequently. But as bones are so easily preserved 

 in a state which cannot shock the most delicate hands or 

 the most sensitive nose, there is no excuse for any student 

 not practically knowing the most important peculiarities of 

 any skeleton, nor for his not prosecuting his investigations 

 to any degree of minuteness when occasion requires. 



It has been remarked that these fully illustrated mono- 

 graphs are of especial value in paIa?ontological investi- 

 gations ; that the study of the Pleistocene remains of 

 Australia, for instance, can be conducted on the spot with 

 greater facility when comparisons can be made with ex- 

 isting forms. But, we may ask, where can it be easier 

 than in Australia itself, to obtain the skeletons of now 

 living Marsupials .' and we all know how much better it is 

 to hare the bones themselves than drawings of them. 

 however well executed. Further, it has been said that 

 after a certain time it is impossible for any author, how- 

 ever able, to continue to develop generalisations and 

 theories from any number of fresh facts ; and such being 

 the case, can those who really like their subject do better 

 than devote themselves to the careful description, uncom- 

 plicated with any attempt at inductive reasoning, of what 

 they have the opportunity of observing .> We think they 

 can, for we see no reason why the inferior productions of 

 an able man should, on account of his previous repu- 

 tation, be allowed to be placed on a level with the better 

 work of others, and above those productions of the same 

 quality, the attempts of less known authors. 



The fact, however, is that the time is passed for the 

 publication as simple statements of the commonplace facts 

 of osteology ; the subject is more than overloaded with 

 them already. What is now wanted is the application to 

 them of some methods by which, like the doctrine of 

 evolution, or the vertebrate theory of the skull, those at 

 present on hand may be turned to better account in deter- 

 mining the true affinities of different animals, or the means 

 by which the present state of things has been arrived at. 

 The comparison of simple fact-accumulation to the intro- 

 duction of fresh methods of research, or lines of thought, 

 is so insuperably in favour of the latter, that the former 



