230 
Such were the chief episodes of Cope’s 
individual life; the facts known are few 
and the record belongs rather to his family 
than to us. But Cope’s real life was in his 
work and to the consideration of that work 
we may now proceed. Let us adopt the 
order in which he took up the subjects of 
- his investigations and successively look 
into his contributions to herpetology (III), 
ichthyology (IV), mammalogy (V) and 
paleontology (VI); we may then examine 
his philosophical views and especially those 
relating to evolution (VII); finally we may 
attempt to forecast the position he is des- 
tined to enjoy in the history of science 
(VIII). To know him as he was we must 
recognize his weakness as well as his 
strength. He himself has wished this and 
has asked in the spirit of the Moor : 
Speak of me as I am ; nothing extenuate, 
Nor set down aught in malice. 
iil. 
The extent of Cope’s contributions to her- 
petology have been referred to. Herpetology 
was his first love and continued to be the 
favorite branch of science to his life’s end. 
His impress on it was, in some respects at 
least, greater than on any other of the sci- 
ences he cultivated, and doubtless the sys- 
tems he introduced, with some modifica- 
tions, will be the most lasting. He found 
herpetology an art; he left it a science ; 
he found it a device mainly for the naming 
of specimens; he left it the expression 
of the coordination of all structural fea- 
tures. The reformations he effected in the 
classification of the anurous amphibians and 
the saurian reptiles were especially notable. 
The anurans had been chiefly differen- 
tiated in groups on account of the most su- 
perficial characters. Such were the modes 
of fixation of the tongue or its absence, the 
development of disk-like expansions of the 
tips of the toes, or simply attenuated toes, 
and the presence or absence of teeth in a 
jaw. Cope proceeded to investigate the 
SCIENCE. 
[N. 8S. Von. VI. No. 187. 
group in an anatomical manner and reached 
entirely new conclusions. He found that 
important differences existed in the struc- 
ture of the sternum, and especially in the 
connection of the lateral halves. In the 
common toads and tree toads of Europe and 
North America the so-called clavicle and 
coracoid of each side are ‘connected by a 
longitudinal arched cartilage which over- 
laps that of the opposite side,’ while in the 
common frogs the clavicles and coracoids of 
both sides are connected by a single median 
cartilage. The former type is now known 
as the arciferous and the latter as the firmi- 
sternal. Although Cope was the first to 
appreciate the significance of those charac- 
ters, he did not at once fully realize their 
morphological value, the name Arcifera 
having been originally applied by him only 
to types of that group having teeth. Ulti- 
mately he did so, and his views have stood 
the test of time and the latest critical inves- 
tigations. He also found that the charac- 
ters so revealed served to fix the places in 
the system of the groups in question. In 
their early stages the Firmisternials (or 
frogs and their relations) have the shoulder- 
girdle movable, and thus resemble the Ar- 
cifers (toads, ete.), which have the opposite 
halves movable during their whole life- 
time ; thus it became evident that the latter 
are the lowest or most generalized forms, 
and the former more advanced and higher 
in the system. The development of teeth, 
which had been supposed by the earlier sys- 
tematists to be of paramount value, and 
which Cope, following in their footsteps, 
had also originally unduly valued, has been 
found to be of quite subordinate impor- 
tance. 
The lizards were also in former times 
distributed into families and other groups 
on account of variations in superficial or 
external characters, such as the form of the 
tongue, the arrangement of the scales and 
the development of legs and feet. Cope 
