6o8 THE WONDER OF LIFE 



cosmos — even when it is pointed out that vestigial organs 

 are often very variable and apt to be seats of diseases 



(witness appendicitis), 

 and that anachronistic 

 habits form part of 

 what men call crimes. 

 None but the im- 

 imaginative can fail to 

 be impressed by the 

 sight of the pelvic 

 bones of a large whale. 

 Dwindhng rehcs they 

 are of originally huge 

 hip-girdles. They may 

 be connected with ad- 

 jacent muscles — a tail 

 muscle, the genital 

 muscles, and a trunk 

 muscle, but they are 

 practically of no mo- 

 ment. Rontgen ray 

 photographs show that 

 they still retain, how- 



TH „~ TT 1- • lu- • ji ju-jT 1, ever, the characteristic 

 Fig. 93. — ^Vestigial nip-girale and nmd-limb _ ' 



of a whale. 1, Vestige of pelvis or internal architecture of 



hip-girdle; 2, Vestige of thigh-bone or , at" 



femur ; 3, Cartilage corresponding to OO^ie. ftometunes, as 



the tibia. The closely dotted parts ^J^g fiomre shows, there 



are oartUage. The dotted line crossing . 



2 shows the contour of the pelvis ; are vestlges not Only 



some say is represented 

 only by the ischiac portion), but of femur and tibia 

 as well. Cajeful measurement made by WiUy Augustiu 



