THE HAND AS AN UNRULY MEMBER. 
BY BURT G. WILDER, M. D. 
[Continued from page 423.] 
In the first part of this article, taking for granted that 
all readers of the NarurauisT are aware that the mam- 
mals have two pairs of limbs, of which the hinder are gen- 
erally called legs, while the anterior are either legs or 
wings or flippers or arms, according to the use their 
owners make of them, I made the following statements: 
1. That, in spite of great differences in appearance and 
in the movements which they perform, there is a close 
anatomical resemblance between the human arm and the 
foreleg of beasts, the wings of birds, the flippers of seals, 
etc. 2. That there is a similar resemblance between the 
leg of man and the hinder limbs of animals. All this is 
now generally admitted, and, however distasteful may be 
the actual comparison between the limbs of the bear or of 
the monkey and our own, we cannot help seeing, that 
when we get upon all-fours like the one, or stand semi- 
erect like the other, our limbs really occupy partly the 
same position in regard to our back-bone as do those 0 
the creatures first mentioned: and I might add, that there 
is a time in the early stages of growth of all vertebrates, 
when the limbs are just beginning to form, and are mere 
little fleshy buds or pads projecting from the sides of the 
body. (Fig. 6, Plate 12.) 
This kind of comparison between the fore or hind limbs 
of different species is called the study of Homologies, 
and formerly constituted the whole of Comparative Anat- 
omy. But I also stated that within the past century there 
has arisen a new kind of Comparative Anatomy, which 
has for its object the comparison, not of corresponding 
