TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 105 
districts, known to intermarry closely, are seen to be in possession of more than 
average health ; also by one case observed by the writer in a race of cats, in which 
certain peculiarities were found to reappear in the third generation, after at least 
two successive distinct crosses. 
The writer’s conclusions are as follows :— 
1. That statistical evidence from observation of man is peculiarly inapplicable 
to questions of the kind under discussion. 
2. That the evidence in favour of the opinion that close breeding is contrary to 
a law of nature is highly unsatisfactory. 
3. That there is positive evidence, from the results of recorded observations upon 
animals, that no such law affects them—w. e., that where the causes of degeneracy 
are absent, any degree of close breeding may exist without producing ill effects ; and 
therefore, 
4. Unless we are prepared to believe in two distinct physiologies, the same must 
be true of the human race. 
5. It will remain an interesting question, how far reasoning similar to the above 
will be found to affect the views recently put forward by Mr. Darwin, in his work 
on the fertilization of Orchids. 
The following are the works referred to in the paper of which the above is an 
abstract :— 
Devay. Hygiéne de Famille, 2nd edit, deuxiéme partie, sec. ii. ch. iv. v. 
Bemiss. In Journal of Psychological Medicine for April 1857, 
Child. In Medico-Chirurgical Review for April 1862. 
Bondin. In Comptes Rendus for June 16, 1862. 
Anderson Smith. In Lancet for July 5, 1862. 
Youatt. The Horse, p. 317 (edit. 1855). 
Samson. In Comptes Rendus for July 21, 1862. 
Beaudouir. In Comptes Rendus for August 5, 1862. 
Jourdon. In Comptes Rendus for August 11, 1862. 
Stonehenge. (J. H. Walsh.) The Horse, in the Stable and in the Field, p. 139. 
Darwin. On the Fertilization of Orchids (passim). 
On Ribs and Transverse Processes, with special relation to the Theory of the 
Vertebrate Skeleton. By Dr. CLELann. 
In the first part of this paper, the points were sought to be shown in which pre- 
vailing theories were untenable when compared with the phenomena exhibited by 
ribs and transverse processes in different classes of Vertebrata. 
According to the writer of the paper, all morphological discussions resolve them- 
selves into investigations of the relative amount of significance attachable to different 
classes of phenomena. We compare structures, and inquire in what respects the 
differ and in what they correspond. The question then arises, what points of dif 
ference or correspondence are of primary importance, and what points are only 
subordinate? The importance of such points can only be estimated by their pre- 
valence in a series of animals, and the time of their appearance in the embryo. 
Now, looked at in the earliest condition, the embryo is developed from a portion of 
the germinal membrane split up into layers, which fold inwards to complete the 
outline of the body in aries a manner that the innermost layer forms the epithelial 
lining of the intestine and appendages, while the outermost layer forms the cuticle, 
together with the brain and spinal cord. The spinal cord is thus originally super- 
ficial, and it only becomes deeply placed in consequence of processes, projected from 
the middle and superficial layers, rismg on each side of it and uniting in the 
middle line. On the other hand, the visceral cavity is not bounded by processes 
projected from the opposite aspect of these layers, but by the layers themselves ; 
therefore the visceral ring cannot be appropriately compared to the neural ring, 
which is formed merely of two radiations given off from the visceral ring. Yet the 
revailing theories, according to which the ribs and transverse processes of mammals, 
fixts, reptiles, and fishes are compared, e. g. those of Miiller and Owen, require us to 
believe that the skeleton is so planned round the bodies of the vertebre, that the 
neural arch on the dorsal aspect corresponds to the visceral arch on the ventral 
