OF ORGANIC NATURE. 23 



the end of the series^ the diagram representing a man's 

 skeleton, and still you find no great structural feature 

 essentially altered. There are the same bones in the 

 same relations. From the Horse -we pass on and on^ with 

 gradual steps, until we arrive at last at the highest known 

 forms. On the other hand, take the other line of dia- 

 grams, and pass from the Horse downwards in tlie scale 

 to this fish; and still, though the modifications are vastly 

 greater, the essential framework of the organization 

 remains unchanged. Here, for instance, is a Porpoise ; 

 here is its strong backbone, with the cavity running 

 through it, which contains the spinal cord; here are 

 the ribs, here the shoulder-blade ; here is the little 

 short upper-arm bone, here are the two forearm bones, 

 the wrist-bone, and the finger-bones. 



Strange, is it not, that the Porpoise should have in 

 this queer-looking affair — its flapper (as it is called), 

 the same fundamental elements as the fore-leg of the 

 Horse or the Dog, or the Ape or Man ; and here you 

 will notice a very curious thing, — the hinder limbs are 

 absent. Now, let us make another jump. Let us go 

 to the Codfish : here you see is the forearm, in this 

 large pectoral fin — carrying your mind^s eye onward 

 from the flapper of the Porpoise. And here you have 

 the hinder limbs restored in the shape of these ventral 

 fins. If I were to make a transverse section of this, I 

 should find just the same organs that we have before 

 noticed. So that, you see, there comes out this strange 

 conclusion as the result of our investigations, that the 

 Horse, when examined and compared Avith other ani- 

 mals, is found by no means to stand alone in nature ; 

 but that there are an enormous number of other 



