418 (Jan. 18, 
ple in the form above described, of a solidungulate extremity would sug- 
gest to the evolutionist a comparison with the foot of the horse; the single 
unguis, the nearly straight though multi-articulate axis from the unguis 
to the elbow, the main lines of motion, are identical in the two instances. 
But it is equally like the wing of a bird, and an analogy might be instituted 
with that limb: the extreme degree of flexion possible between the two main 
segments, the presence of two bones in the forearm, are the same in both. 
Such a method of comparison is no more conclusive than the likeness of 
clouds to camels and to whales. We can say with Polonius, such things 
are very like, and yet be no nearer in the end to a conclusion than in the 
beginning. The real comparison and only comparison which is profitable 
to make is with the general history of the superior extremity studied as 
a distinct subject, no matter what special form of limb may be differen- 
tiated in various animals. The presence of the exostosis upon the humerus 
is in this way comparable to other spinous outgrowths such as are seen in 
long slender shafts (as in the ribs of fish and of birds), and in many ex- 
amples of diseased and perverted action in the long bones of man. 
While such strictures are applicable to the various regions of the body, 
they cannot be made to apply to the subdivisions of a given anatomical 
system, The variations in the muscular system of man, for example, are 
often precise instances of reversion to the normal arrangement as met 
with in lower forms. In this way the study of minute variations in the 
shape of a muscle, or in the distribution of a nerve or a blood vessel, is 
more valuable for the purpose of the student of evolution than is the inves- 
tigation of monstrous deformations. 
Stated Meeting, January 18, 1884. 
Present, 17 members. 
President, Mr. Franny, in the Chair. 
The resignation of Dr. William Camac was received in a 
explanatory letter dated Woodvale, January 7, 1884, and, on 
motion, accepted. 
The receipt of the Zeisberger and Perleus MSS. was ac- 
knowledged by letter, signed Edmund de Schweinitz, dated 
Bethlehem, January 7, 1884. 
Letters of acknowledgment were received from the Anthro- 
pological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (110-112), and 
Yale College (XV, i). 
