APPARENT EXCEPTIONS. 205 



ral phenomena which, much more than the one we 

 have been now considering, does at first sight sug- 

 gest to the mind the subordination of Purpose and 

 the supremacy of Law. It is the department of 

 Comparative Anatomy. It is a fact now well 

 known and universally accepted, that in many 

 animal structures, perhaps in all except one, there 

 are parts the presence of which cannot be ex- 

 plained, from their serving any immediate use, or 

 discharging any actual function. For example, the 

 limbs of all the Mammalia, and even of all the 

 Lizards, terminate in five jointed bones or fingers. 

 But in many animals the whole five are not needed, 

 but only some one, or two, or three. In such cases 

 the remainder are indeed dwarfed, sometimes al- 

 most extinguished ; but the curious fact is that 

 rudimentally the whole number are always to be 

 traced. Even in the Horse, where one only of the 

 five is directly used, and where this one is enlarged 

 and developed into a hoof, parts corresponding to 

 the remaining four fingers can be detected in the 

 anatomy of the limb. Other examples of the same 

 principle might be given without number. Thus 

 there are Monkeys which have no thumbs for 



