i874 LETTER TO PARKER 



447, 



theory they have led to, from Reichert's first observations down 

 to the present time. The embryonic structures grew and shaped 

 themselves on the board, and shifted their relations in accord- 

 ance with the views of successive observers, until a graphic 

 epitome of the progress of knowledge on the subject was com- 

 pleted. 



He and Parker indeed (to whom he signs himself, 

 " Ever yours amphibially ") had been busy, not only 

 throughout 1874, but for several years earlier, examining 

 the development of the Amphibia, with a particular view to 

 the whole theory of the vertebrate skull, for which he had 

 done similar work in 1857 and 1858. Thus in May 4, 1870, 

 he writes to Parker : — 



I read all the most important part of your Frog-paper last 

 night, and a grand piece of work it is — more important, I think, 

 in all its bearings than anything you have done yet. 



From which premisses I am going to draw a conclusion 

 which you do not expect, namely, that the paper must by no 

 manner of means go into the Royal Society in its present shape. 

 And for the reasons following : — 



In the first place, the style is ultra-Parkerian. From a 

 literary point of view, my dear friend, you remind me of nothing 

 so much as a dog going home. He has a goal before him which 

 he will certainly reach sooner or later, but first he is on this 

 side the road, and now on that; anon, he stops to scratch at an 

 ancient rat-hole, or maybe he catches sight of another dog, a 

 quarter of a mile behind, and bolts off to have a friendly, or 

 inimical sniff. In fact, his course is . . . (here a tangled maze 



is drawn) not . In the second place, you must begin with 



an earlier stage. . . . That is the logical starting-point of the 

 whole affair. 



Will you come and dine at 6 on Saturday, and talk over the 

 whole business? 



If you have drawings of earlier stages you might bring them. 

 I suspect that what is wanted might be supplied in plenty of 

 time to get the paper in. 



In 1874 he re-dissects the skull of Axolotl to clear up 

 the question as to the existence of the " ventral head or 

 pedicle " which Parker failed to observe : " If you disbelieve 

 in that pedicle again, I shall be guilty of an act of personal 



