Wilder.] 158 [April 5. 



On the other hand, the method of comparison suggested by Vicq d' 

 Azyr required that the armus of one side should be placed parallel 

 with the skelos of the other. And this, with his frequent use of the 

 term " parallele," (by which I believe he really meant only corres- 

 pondence,) has given rise to a class of views in which this method is 

 in part adopted as an end, instead of a means ; and the effort has 

 been made in various ways to show that corresponding parts of the 

 membra do, or at any rate should, face in the same direction. To 

 this end, some have suggested ingenious serial homologies, leaving the 

 parts in their natural attitudes, while others have altered the position 

 of the membra or of their parts, in ways equally ingenious and plau- 

 sible, yet, as I believe, equally unsound. But all these comparisons 

 are based upon the generally received opinion that pollex (thumb), 

 and primus (great toe), are homologous, which opinion I hold to be 

 incorrect. 



SYNTROPY. 



The former method of comparison originated with Dr. Barclay, the 

 anatomical preceptor of Prof. Owen, who in 1824 suggested that the 

 armus and skelos should be compared in their natural attitude with 

 most mammalia, the manus pronated so as to bring the pollex upon 

 the inner border of its membrum, as was the primus behind. 



This involved a denial of the homology which Vicq d' Azyr ad- 

 mitted between the extensor surfaces of brachium (upper arm) , and 

 meros (thigh), and between the convexity of the ancon (elbow), and 

 the genu (knee) ; and it further involved the comparison of two par- 

 allel bones, the tibia and fibula, with two crossed bones, the ulna and 

 radius. Nevertheless, in 1838 Flourens proposed a similar view, 14, 

 and in 1846 it was vigorously supported by Owen, 20, 335, and 63 in 

 many places, who carried it so far as to find the homologue of the 

 patella in the sesamoid bone of the biceps brachii in certain bats, and 

 the homologue of the olecranon in the projecting post-genual process 

 (fabella) , of the wombat. 



From this and other details of Owen's peculiar views, Goodsir dis- 

 sents; but in 1856 he enunciated what seems to be essentially the theory 

 of Barclay and Flourens, associating with it, however, a belief in the 

 quinary composition of the membra, which had been suggested by 

 Oken, 285, 2380, Duges, 11, 44, and Gervais, 27, 32. 



I was formerly, 52, 486, inclined to include Humphrey among the 

 ' ' Antitropists," by reason of his recognition of the antagonism be- 



