148 ANIMAL LIFE 
Fach of these vestigial organs tells a story of some past 
adaptation to conditions, one that is no longer needed in 
the life of the species. They have the same place in the 
study of animals that silent letters have in the study of 
words. For example, in our word knight the & and gh are 
no longer sounded; but our ancestors used them both, as 
the Germans do to-day in their cognate word Knecht. So 
with the French word femps, which means time, in which 
both p and s are silent. The Romans, from whom the 
French took this word, needed all its letters, for they spelled 
and pronounced it ¢zempus. In general, every silent letter 
in every word was once sounded. In like manner, every 
vestigial structure was once in use and helpful or necessary 
to the life of the animal which possessed it. 
ilorns of two male deer interlocked while fighting. Permission of G O. SHrEeps, 
publisher of Recreation. 
