THE HISTORY OF ANATOMICAL SCIENCE 319 



the theory of the vertebrate skeleton had been so 

 elaborately worked out by Spix (1815), Carus 

 (1828), and others, that the vein might well seem 

 to be exhausted. Carus, especially, had visualized 

 his hypotheses in diagrams, to which he gave the 

 names of ' Grundform ' and ' Schema ; ' and which 

 are the equivalents of the ' Archetype ' and its 

 derivatives. Thus, when Owen took up the 

 subject, many years after Carus, there really was 

 nothing new in principle to be done, so long as 

 the method of his predecessors was followed. All 

 that could be hoped from renewed investigation, 

 along the same lines, was the rectification of erro- 

 neous, and the suggestion of unsuspected, homo- 

 logies. And this is what we find ; new homologies 

 for the cranial bones ; original speculations re- 

 specting the nature of the bony walls of the inferior 

 cavities of the skull ; as to the proper connections 

 and homology of the pectoral arch ; and so on. 



I believe I am right in saying that hardly any 

 of these speculations and determinations have 

 stood the test of investigation, or, indeed, that any 

 of them were ever widely accepted. I am not sure 

 that any one but the historian of anatomical science 

 is ever likely to recur to them ; and considering 

 Owen's great capacity, extensive learning, and 

 tireless industry, that seems a singular result of 

 years of strenuous labour. 



But it will cease to be so remarkable to those 

 who reflect that the ablest of us is a child of his 



