Philosophy of Zoology. 4839 



horse, zebra, ass, dog, wolf, fox, jackall, pig, ox, man. The theory of 

 variety, to a certain extent permanent, was next brought to bear on 

 these difficult questions; the influence of domesticity was also in- 

 voked, and even the fruitfulness of hybrid races was asserted ; so that 

 Natural History fast retrograded towards the silly hypothesis ascribed 

 to Aristotle, who is supposed to have conjectured that the vast variety 

 of animal forms with which Africa abounds is due to the arid nature of 

 the country and its paucity of rivers and springs, thus bringing 

 together animals of many species and genera; hence the varied 

 character of Afric's Fauna. 



The inadequacy of anatomy to distinguish species in every case 

 was fully admitted by Cuvier himself. I also admit this practically, 

 but with this reservation, that the minute anatomy of even the 

 osteology of every species differs in a certain degree, however slight, 

 from every other ; but such minute differences are not of much im- 

 portance in the establishment of important principles, nor can they 

 always be depended on. The nasal bones of the horse and ass differ 

 in form from each other, more perhaps than any part of their respective 

 osteology ; but how insignificant is this difference, in a natural-history 

 point of view, when compared with those external characters which 

 mark the zebra, the horse, the ass, and quagga ! The same remarks 

 apply to the lion and tiger, in respect of these very bones, the nasal, 

 and their relations to the superior maxillary bones ; to the white ox 

 of Scotland and to the common domestic ox. The nasal bones, the 

 skeleton of the head, the character of the teeth, do not differ more 

 regularly or constantly, nor to the same extent, in the horse, zebra 

 and ass than they do in the races of man. The skeleton of the head 

 of the Negro and Bosjesman differ much more widely from the white 

 races of man than those of the horse and lion differ from the corre- 

 sponding structures in the tiger and zebra. I do not, therefore, 

 admit, to the full extent, that anatomical characters ever fail to 

 discriminate species ; but I freely admit their occasional inadequacy 

 to characterise or to lead to the determination of species in a 

 practical sense. On the other hand, the facility with which this may 

 be done, by a consideration of the external characters, is known to all 

 the world. Science admits of no exaggeration ; Anatomy has done 

 much for Natural History ; much for Philosophy ; still more for 

 humanity, by purging the human mind of deep-rooted errors, of a gross 

 and scandalous character, of forty centuries' growth. But Anatomy 

 has its limits, notwithstanding, and these limits were admitted and 

 defined by the Great Master himself. 



